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BENJAMIN QUAKE* 
MANUAL 

OF THE 

PHYSIOLOGY OF MAN; 

OH, 

A CONCISE DESCRIPTION 

OF THE 

PHENOMENA OF HIS ORGANIZATION. 
BY PH. HUTIX. 



Quidquid prsecipies, esto brevis, ut cito, dicta 
Percipiant animi dociles, teneantque fideles. 

Hot. de Art. Poet. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, WITH NOTES, 

BY JOSEPH TOGN'O, 

STUDENT OF MEDICINE. 







PHILADELPHIA. 
CAREY, LEA & CAREY, CHESTNUT STREET. 

1828. 



nN< 



Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to wit: 
BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the eighth day of May, in 

the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States 
of America, A. D. 1828, Carey, Lea & Carey of the said dis- 
trict have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right 
whereof they claim as proprietors in the words following, to wit: 

" Manual of the Physiology of Man; or, a Concise Description 
of his Organization. By Ph. Hutin. Translated from the 
French, with notes, by Joseph Togno, Student of Medi- 
cine." 

Quidquid prxcipies, esto brevis, ut cito, dicta 
Percipiant animi dociles, teneantque fideles. 

Hor. de Art. Poet. 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, 
entitled " An act for the encouragement of learning, by secur- 
ing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and 
proprietors of such copies during the times therein mention- 
ed;" — And also to the act entitled " An act supplementary to 
an act entitled ' An act for the encouragement of learning by 
securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors 
and proprietors of such copies during the times therein men- 
tioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of design- 
ing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." 

D. CALDWELL. 
Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



6 <v 



ti>(o 



TO 

SAMUEL, JACKSOX, M. D, 

Assistant Lecturer on the Theory and Practice op Medi- 
cine, in the University of Pennsylvania, &c. &c. 

THIS ENGLISH VERSION 

07 

HUTIN'S MANUAL OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY 

Is respectfully Inscribed, 

As a feeble homage to his acquirements in this 
department of medicine in particular, as well as of 
general eminence in his profession; as a mark of re- 
spect for his acknowledged worth and talents, and 
as a testimony of gratitude, by his 

Obliged Friend, 

THE TRANSLATOR. 



PREFACE 



THE TRANSLATOR. 



My first attempt of this kind was, to render into 
the English language the last labours of the immor- 
tal Bichat: I mean his "Pathological Anatomy." 
The favourable reception that work has received 
from enlightened physicians, has encouraged me 
again, to present myself before the medical public 
as a translator. I am farther led to this undertaking 
by a conviction, that neither the student of medi- 
cine, nor the young practitioner can better improve 
his leisure moments than by translating some useful 
work: These considerations have been the principal 
inducements to the accomplishment of the present 
translation. 

This manner of becoming useful to our profes- 
sion is certainly preferable to a rash and thought- 
less attempt, at expressing our own crude ideas and 
undigested observations, by which we not only risk 
our reputation, but which might remain a monument 
of unprofitable absurdities, in spite of the most 
careful and polished diction. 

Time only, and experience, enlightened and regu- 
1* 



VI PREFACE OF 

lated by a just observation^ aided by a scrutinizing 
eye, which searches into the most hidden recesses 
of the mysteries of nature; and a mind endowed 
with a perspicuous and clear perception to record 
them, can alone presume, in our days, and especial- 
ly in our profession, to produce an original work 
worthy of posterity. 

But things are otherwise with respect to the 
translator: It is only necessary for him to possess a 
mastery of the two languages from and into which 
he translates, and at the same time to have a per- 
fect knowledge of the subject on which he is em- 
ployed. 

These are the necessary qualifications; and when 
possessed, he may launch his bark into this "sea 
of troubles," though with little expectation of ac- 
quiring fame, for his tedious and irksome labours. 
But if, in the present attempt, I may only be useful 
to the students of medicine, by facilitating their ar- 
duous studies, I shall sincerely congratulate myself 
on the undertaking, while I indulge the hope, that 
it will be found by them, not entirely undeserving 
their approbation and careful perusal. 

I have not aimed at elegance of diction, the na- 
ture of the work forbids it; and indeed, it could 
only be attained by a manifest sacrifice of the real 
meaning of the original text; but if I have not em- 
bellished my style with the flowers of rhetoric, I 
may unhesitatingly affirm, that I have never wilful- 
ly departed or deviated from the true meaning of 
my author. 



THE TRANSLATOR. Vll 

I may be permitted to make a single observation 
on the arrangement of the matter of the work it- 
self. 

M. Hutin has followed the best classification, and 
the clearest and simplest method of instructing in the 
science of Physiology. He first gives us a graphic 
anatomical sketch of the apparatus or organ, &c; 
and causes it to be immediately followed by the 
physiological function or mechanism of the appa- 
ratus or organ, &c. accompanied with a brief and 
condensed historical view, of the various opinions, 
facts or hypotheses, entertained or advanced, to ex- 
plain the physiological functions of our organs. 

In this manner, we not only possess the opinion 
of one author, or school, but the opinions of all 
countries, and men of eminence who have written 
on this subject; and the present work is believed, in 
this respect, to be the most correct summary of this 
science at the present time. And, in this opinion, 
I am confirmed by that of my friend Dr. Samuel 
Jackson. 

April, 1828. 



PREFACE 

OF THE AUTHOR. 



In the circle of sciences, there is not one which 
does not inspire the greatest and most lively interest; 
but that which has man for its object — his organiza- 
tion — his phenomena, possesses for us something far 
more seducing: in effect, does there exist for a re- 
flecting being a more powerful charm than that of 
being able to penetrate into himself, and there to 
discover the mechanism of his functions, the won- 
ders and mystery of his life? Therefore, Physi- 
ology is, in this respect, a science which should be 
studied by all; — in its study, man is struck by a 
multitude of delightful revelations; the philosopher 
finds in it the foundation of a sound doctrine; every 
one knows how much Bossuet urged the necessity 
of uniting physiology to the moral sciences: finally 
the physician must here imbibe the first principles 
of his science; without it, he is exposed at every 
step to the danger of falling into the most disgust- 
ing and dangerous empyricism. 

We have on this important subject numerous 
particular memoirs, and treatises ex-professo; and 
in mentioning only those which do honour to 
our age, we shall particularly name the excellent 



X PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR. 

works of Messrs. Richerand, Dumas, Chaussier, 
Magendie, Adelon, &c. In presenting to the me- 
dical student a clear, simple, and rapid abridgment 
of the doctrines of these great masters, far be from 
me the idle pretension of producing a perfect work: 
I only aspire to the merit of removing the difficulties 
which embarrass their first steps, and of facilitating 
and accelerating their studies, in order to pay to this 
body the tribute of usefulness which it imposes on 
each of its members. The plan which I have fol- 
lowed in this manual, is nearly the same as that 
which is adopted in the school of Paris. I give at 
first some general considerations which serve as a 
natural introduction to the study of man; then I 
examine in particular, and in the aggregate, the dif- 
ferent parts which constitute the human organiza- 
tion; finally, I conclude by the history of the func- 
tions, or different phenomena that man presents dur- 
ing the course of his life. 

In the particular study of each function, I recall 
very cursorily the general condition and structure 
of the organ which is its instrument; then I explain 
the function itself; finally, after having described 
its mechanism and ultimate object, I pass in review 
the principal theories, or hypotheses, which divide 
physiologists: when I differ in opinion with them, 
I do it less from confidence in my own judgment, 
than in the observation of the learned men who ap- 
pear to me to approach nearest to truth, and to a 
knowledge of the secrets of human nature. 



MANUAL 



PHYSIOLOGY OF MAN. 



General physiology is a natural science which 
treats of the phenomena belonging to organized bo- 
dies; but those bodies are innumerable, and besides 
they form two different kingdoms; physiology is then 
1 at first divided into vegetable and animal, according 
as vegetables or animals are the subjects of our inves- 
tigation; finally, if we study life in one single species 
of these two living kingdoms, then physiology re- 
ceives the appellation of special. Such is in par- 
ticular that of man, of which we are about to treat. 

INTRODUCTION. 

General considerations of natural bodies. 

The bodies or beings, the existence of which has 
been doubted by some metaphysicians, manifest 
their presence by a certain number of properties 
which produce in us an aggregation of definite sen- 
sations. The immense science which embraces them 
constitutes what is called natural philosophy. 

In considering generally, and in a philosophical 
manner, the admirable variety of beings which com- 
pose the universe, we are struck with amazement 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

on seeing that all can be reduced to a certain num- 
ber of elements which, according to the present 
state of science, amount to fifty-six, four of which 
are imponderable; but these elements or material 
parts of bodies, mixed in different numbers, or in di- 
verse proportions, are bound together, in their com- 
binations, by two distinct forces; the one, the power 
of chemical attraction, the other, that of organic at- 
traction, which gives to them two peculiar modes of 
existence, which will for a moment fix our atten- 
tion. 

All the bodies in nature are either inorganic or 
organic. Ever) 7- thing is different in these two 
classes of beings, not only in their material com- 
position and power of aggregation, but also in the 
part they perform in the universe. The first glance < 
suffices to establish between them, h priori, a dis- 
tinctive character, — it is life, properly so called; and 
is only found among the beings whose particular 
structure assumes the name of organization, whilst 
inorganic bodies enjoy only a passive existence de- 
pending upon chemical affinities and ph) T sical laws. 
Let us briefly examine what are the material differ- 
ences which exist between these two modes of being. 

1. Composition. The inorganic bodies are com- 
posed of homogeneous molecules,united by a univer- 
sal power, attraction, the ordinary conditions of 
which are well understood, in such a manner that the 
chemist may at pleasure decompose and reproduce 
them. Some of these molecules are elementary or 
indecomposable, and have generally a determined 
geometrical form; others are the result of diverse 
combinations that these latter form between them- 
selves, and are called integrant. United in different 
quantities, and in an order more or less irregular, 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

these molecules constitute inorganic bodies, the 
volume and shape of which are very varrable. 

Organized bodies, on the contrary, are composed 
of heterogeneous parts; some solid, constituting the 
organs, others fluid, which are contained in these 
latter. These different dissimilar parts are united 
by a particular power, — vital affinity, the laws of 
which are entirely unknown to us; so that we are 
unable to decompose and recompose a vegetable or 
an animal. We distinguish in these beings chemi- 
cal and organic elements, the union of which pro- 
duces bodies of a determined shape and volume. 

2. Origin. Inorganic bodies are sometimes com- 
pletely formed by the combination of different ele- 
ments, at dthers, they are detached from a mass, 
or are deposited by water which holds them in so- 
lution. 

On the contrary, organized bodies are always pro- 
duced by Bodies similar to themselves; their repro- 
duction occurs by a positive generation, nevertheless 
some moderns still admit, with the ancients, a spon- 
taneous generation in the two organic kingdoms. 
(Lamarck. J 

3. Growth. Inorganic bodies may at every mo- 
ment considerably augment or diminish in volume; 
these phenomena, independent of themselves, al- 
ways appertain to the general laws of matter. 

Organic bodies, on the contrary, continually as- 
similate the nutritive particles of the bodies which 
surround them, and reject at the same time mate- 
rials which previously formed them ; this growth, by 
Intussusception, constitutes nutrition properly so 
called. 

4. End. Mineral substances can not necessarily 
have an end; exterior bodies are those which pro- 

2 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

duce their destruction by greater affinities than those 
which have given them birth; the dissolution of 
their elements is never spontaneous. 

Organized beings, on the contrary, have a deter- 
mined end. Death, a name given to this end, hap- 
pens with the entire cessation of the nutritive func- 
tions; the body then returns into the class of inor- 
ganic substances. 

Mineralogy, chemistry, and natural philosophy, 
have for their object the investigation of inorganic 
bodies, whilst the knowledge of organization, and of 
the phenomena of organized bodies, belong to anato- 
my and general physiology; the numerous bodies 
which are the object of these two last sciences are 
divided into vegetable or inanimate beings, and ani- 
mals or animated beings; the general characters that 
we have just pointed out in organized bodies, equally 
belong to both; but there exist between them some 
nicer distinctions, which justify us in the division of 
these beings into two distinct classes. 

Difference between vegetables and animals. 

1. Composition. We find in both classes an or- 
ganization, but generally it is more simple in the 
vegetable than in the animal kingdom; with the for- 
mer, solid particles predominate, whilst fluids pre- 
vail in the latter. In the former, one single organic 
element seems to exist, the cellular, whilst in the 
latter, three at least are distinguishable: the eel-, 
lular, the muscular, and nervous* tissues. Finally, 

* Nevertheless, Haller, Linnaeus and M.Brachet, consider the 
central marrow or pith of vegetables as corresponding to the 
nervous system of animals; and in recent researches, M. Du- 
trochet not only asserts that he has found in several plants 
nervous ganglia, but even muscular fibres. 



INTRODUCTION 15 

the chemical composition in general, is also differ- 
ent; oxygen, hydrogen and carbon, are the chemical 
elements of vegetables. In animals we remark, be- 
sides the above elements, a great quantity of azote. 

2. Nutrition. Beings of both organized king- 
doms draw materials from the bodies surrounding 
them which they elaborate and assimilate to them- 
selves; but vegetables feed on inorganic substances; 
animals, on the contrary, feed almost exclusively on 
organic matter. The former absorb and elaborate 
their aliments throughout their exterior, whilst in 
the latter, the alimentary substances undergo in a 
particular organ, the digestive canal, a special change, 
digestion, which prepares it for assimilation. In- 
deed we may say that this digestion in vegetables 
occurs in the earth, which, according to Hippo- 
crates, is the stomach of plants, quemadmodum 
terra arbor ibus it a animalibus ventriculus. 

Finally, nature has given to animals only, the li- 
berty of executing at pleasure their nutrition, whilst 
vegetables nourish themselves in a passive and 
insensible manner. 

3. Sensibility. Some vegetables have the power 
of receiving impressions and of reacting; but none 
possess sensibility, properly so called, i. e. that fa- 
culty in virtue of which a being has consciousness 
of himself, of his existence, of pleasure and of pain. 
Consequently their life is necessarily spent without 
perception or volition. 

Animals, on the contrary, which possess this fa- 
culty, are conscious of their existence, perceive and 
execute at will certain actions of their life, and ex- 
perience sensations of pleasure and of pain. 

4. Locomotion. This faculty, by which the body 
has the power in part, or altogether, of changing 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

place at will, exclusively belongs to animals; whilst 
vegetables are fixed to the soil, germinate, grow, 
and die in the same spot: it is erroneously supposed 
by some, that certain bulbous plants have this facul- 
ty in common with animals. When they are ob- 
served for several years, it is evident that they 
have changed place; but let us reflect that it is no 
longer the same plant, it is a new bulb which grows 
alongside of the parent, which dies every year 
with the plant that it produces. 

From these two faculties, proper to animals, arises 
a third, which is equally peculiar to them — lan- 
guage. 

5. Generation. In animals, reproduction oc- 
curs by the voluntary union of two individuals of 
different sexes, whilst the greater number of vege- 
tables are hermaphrodites, i. e. the same flow- 
er bears the two sexes; fecundation is mechanical, 
and is involuntarily performed. But there exists ano- 
ther mode of reproduction, which has the great- 
est analogy in the two species of organized beings; 
it is simple, and happens without the concurrence 
of two sexes. The Conferva?, the Polypi for 
example, cover themselves with gems or buds, in 
the same manner as many plants do, and which, 
in dropping off, give birth to new beings similar to 
the parents which have produced them. 

In the comparative examination that we have 
just made between animals and vegetables, we must 
have remarked that these beings differ only in the 
degree of complication or of simplicity, and if we 
reflect that in order to establish differences, we 
have been obliged to compare the most elevated 
among them, it will be easy to foresee, that in de- 
scending the animal scale, nature will present a 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

multitude of exceptions, which will always op- 
pose a division to which she seems unwillingly 
to consent. In effect, there are animals in whom 
we have not been able to find the organs of sensi- 
bility and of motion, whilst, on the other hand, new 
researches seem to have fixed beyond doubt the 
existence of these instruments, and consequently 
of functions, in some plants. 

Of Jlnimalsin general. 

From the knowledge, which we have just ac- 
quired, we may define animals to be living organ- 
ized beings, sensible, receiving consequently various 
sensations from the different bodies which surround 
them, and the greater number enjoying a free and 
independent existence. 

Generally, animals have a symmetrical form, and 
may be divided into two lateral halves by a verti- 
cal line; they are provided with a nervous system 
expanded on the one part, throughout the whole 
body, and ending on the other by an enlargement; 
they have organs for special sensations to establish 
relations with the universe; they are covered with an 
exterior membrane, the skin, which being reflected 
internally, forms a cavity destined to receive the 
aliments. From this cavity commonly arise numer- 
ous vessels which absorb the alimentary juice and 
distribute it in all parts of the body; finally, most 
animals have respiratory organs in which this 
matter is exposed to the action of the air, secre- 
tory organs, where a part of this nutritive juice is 
eliminated from the mass; muscles to perform mo- 
tions; finally, genital organs for the reproduction of 
the species. 

2* 



IS INTRODUCTION. 

Such are the general characters of animal organi- 
zation; but it undergoes such great modifications, 
from the simplest animals to those which occupy the 
highest grade in the scale, at the head of which stands 
man, that I believe it important to prepare ourselves 
for the study of the latter, by taking a general view 
of organization and the functions of the different 
classes of animated beings, so as to enable us to in- 
vestigate naturefrom its simple to its compound form. 

1. Nutrition. In the lowest animals, i\\e amor- 
phous, the mass is homogeneous, spongy; there is 
no particular organ, the absorption of nutritive mate- 
rials is effected throughout the whole surface of the bo- 
dy. Next, in the radiated animals, we distinguish 
the rudiments of a digestive canal; we find a simple 
cavity, or with radiated prolongations in every part 
of the animal: here the nutritive absorption occurs 
through two surfaces. Finally, as we ascend the 
scale, this cavity traverses the body, the aliment is 
therein received through an orifice called the mouth, 
and the residue is rejected by another opening, the 
anus. 

At first, the nutritive juice is immediately carri- 
ed by imbibition throughout the body, without the 
intervention of vessels; such is the case in the radi- 
ated animals and insects. In more elevated classes, 
the fluid absorbed in the intestinal canal circulates in 
vessels divided into arteries and veins, at the union 
of which is often found a heart simple or double. 
In the vertibrated animals, there exists besides lim- 
phatic arid chylopoetic vessels. 

With the greater number of animals the nutritive 
fluid requires the contact of the air, in order to be 
proper for nutrition; and for this end there is a res- 
piration. The radiated animals, and a few of the 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

articulated, have no particular organ for this func- 
tion, then respiration is called general; with all 
the other animals, on the contrary, this function 
is located; and according as it is executed in water 
or in the air, the organs are modified and assume 
the name of gills or lungs. 

The nutritive fluid is assimilated to the organs in 
the same way in all the classes of the animal king- 
dom; it renews their substance and keeps up their 
temperature. 

The movement of decomposition is also variable in 
the diverse animals, as well as that of composition. 
The nutritive fluid has continually secreted from 
its mass some of its parts, that which constitutes the 
secretions, the results of which differ accordingly 
as they are immediately rejected on the exterior, or 
as they return into the nutritive element. In the 
infusoria, polypi, acalephce, echinodermata and 
intestinal worms, this function is confined to a sim- 
ple exhalation, of which the surface of the body is 
the seat. In certain arachnida, Crustacea, and 
mollusca, we find a liver and salivary glands; the 
vertebrated animals have besides two kidneys, a 
pancreas, &c. 

2. Sensibility. All animals seem to enjoy this 
faculty; but they do not possess it in the same de- 
gree; the nervous system is the instrument of this 
function. In the infusoria, and the greater num- 
ber of polypi, this system seems to be wanting. 
We begin to perceive the rudiments of it in the 
greater number of the radiated animals; we observe 
round their mouth small ganglia, communicating 
with each other by small filaments, which ex- 
tend beyond and are distributed to both surfaces of 
the body; no central ganglion does yet appear to 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

exist: impressions are immediately followed by mo- 
tion. 

The central enlargement called brain, is observed 
in the articulated animals. It is situated over the 
oesophagus; it sends all along the digestive canal 
two filaments, which are united opposite to each ar- 
ticulation, and are distributed to every part of the 
body. The mollusca present nearly the same ar- 
rangement; in the cephalopoda only, the central 
ganglion is enclosed in a kind of cartilaginous cra- 
nium. 

The nervous system in these two classes is alrea- 
dy modified in such a manner as to give birth to 
organs of special sensations; some have tentacula or 
feelers appropriated to the sense of touch, the great- 
er number perceive odours, nevertheless, with them 
this faculty, as well as that of perceiving sounds, 
seems to depend upon a tactile impression, since no 
organs of these senses are as yet discovered. The 
gasteropoda present small black spots that are con- 
sidered as the rudiments of the organ of vision: the 
insects, arachnida, Crustacea, the mollusca cepha- 
lopoda, &c, have simple or compound eyes, often 
pediculated. We see that the complexity of the 
nervous system in these two classes of animals con- 
tinually increases; these latter evidently possess the 
nervous centralization in a higher degree than the 
preceding, hence the freedom of their movements; 
they have organs of the senses, hence again special 
sensations; finally, from these two faculties results a 
third which, without education, tends to the preser- 
vation of the individual and the species,— it is in- 
stinct. 

Lastly, in vertebrated animals, the same fila- 
ments are no longer indistinctly sent to the organs 
of vegetative and animal functions. The nervous 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

system assumes a peculiar character; it is always 
composed of two principal parts: 1. Of the union 
of numerous ganglia analogous to those we have al- 
ready observed in the inferior classes, and which 
have under their dependance the organs of nutrition 
and the principal organs of reproduction; this is call- 
ed the great sympathetic. 2. There exists, more- 
over, another nervous mass, with which communi- 
cate the preceding enlargements, and which con- 
sists, 1. In a long cord contained in the vertebral 
canal, called spinal marrow, whence arise all the 
nerves which impart voluntary locomotion to mus- 
cles. 2. In an enlargement more or less consider- 
able, ordinarily contained in a bony case called 
cranium, this is the encephalon, to which all the or- 
gans of the senses tend, and which presides over the 
moral faculties. This organ, as we gradually rise 
towards man, more and more connects and binds 
under its dependence the whole nervous apparatus, 
and indeed we may even say life. 

Thus in the class of vertebrated animals, besides 
irritability, general sensibility, voluntary move- 
ment and instinct, we also observe cerebral acts, 
which gradually, arise up, even to intelligence. 

3. Locomotion. This faculty, possessed by ani- 
mated beings, for executing partial or general move- 
ments, is gradually extended in the series of animals. 
Among those which occupy the inferior classes, we 
do not find particular organs for this function, and 
nevertheless the infusoria, for example, move 
about with an astonishing velocity; the same thing 
is the case with respect to the rotiferi and the 
polypi, which are likewise deprived of muscu- 
lar organs: they begin to be appreciable in the 
acalephse and radiated animals. Afterwards, the 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

apparatus of this function is more complicated, and 
in the same degree as the muscular system is more 
developed, there are added hard parts, which form 
the frame of the body and the levers of the limbs. 
In the insects, the hard parts are external, form- 
ing a part of its covering; they are composed of 
parts moveable on each other: the muscular fibres line 
their interior and communicate to them motions. 
In the immense class of vertebrated animals, on 
the contrary, these hard parts are internal, and con- 
stitute peculiar organs, the bones, about which the 
muscles are attached. 

4. Expressions. This faculty, possessed by ani 
mated beings of communicating their sensations, 
differs very much in different animals; it is not re- 
marked in those which are deprived of sentiments 
and volition. Next it develops itself, but it is on- 
ly appreciable to the eye; the passions which agi- 
tate the animal are then only discovered by the 
different changes which occur on his surface, con- 
stituting gestures. Lastly, the superior classes 
have besides a peculiar instrument — the larynx; 
placed along the respiratory passage; it produces a 
kind of expression which consists in sounds; voice 
and speech, are modifications peculiar to man. 

5. Generation. In the inferior classes there are 
no particular organs for reproduction; then, some- 
times, as in the infusoria, the body may be divid- 
ed into several fragments, which constitute as many 
new individuals (Jissiparous generation;) or by 
buds shooting on the surface of the animal, de- 
taching themselves from the parent to produce a new 
being, such are polypi, (gemmiparous external 
generation;) or lastly, as it is observed in acalephse, 
it is internally that the gemmae oviform are develop- 



I. 



1. amo organs. 

2. act*1> or ^ consists in ganglia placed opposite each radia 

rently distributed to both surfaces. No rudiment of 
radii 

e stive canal, chylopoetic vessels; pulmonary or bron- 
lood from the respiratory organs and sends it into eve- 
•»; generation with the concurrence of the sexes. Some 
Larrow situated along the digestive canal: some have 
nses. 

3. AnTial canal complete; tracheal respiration disseminated; 
symrrthe muscles, the locomotive apparatus presents some 
it comendent upon the skin; spinal marrow under the di- 
als are inferior to the mollusca. 

nal functions; their body is composed of a trunk divi- 
dmost all have limbs; a series of hollow bones forming 
[ the body, and which contains the spinal marrow; 
he cranium, in which is contained the encephalon, 
ti and the organs of the senses: the mouth is com- 
iirnished with teeth or horny matter: the intestinal ca- 
dch are commonly the salivary glands, the liver and 
leart, arteries, veins, lymphatic, chylopoetic vessels, 
Is: the sexes are separated; all the vertebrated have 
uscles which are inserted into them by the medium of 
iy all have red blood; and among the excretions, the 

Accorced or not in its membranes; we subdivide the verte- 
brated £ 

Oration, till it is hatched. Birds, reptiles and fishes are 

chatching: these are the ovo-viviparous. 
Viish. its communication with the mother; it is expelled 
when it I this family has a peculiar organ (the mammae,) des- 
tined toiasses all beings in intelligence. 



TABLE OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



1. AMOnPHOZOAIHES; 

2. ACTINOZOAIHES 



radiated anir, 



Homogeneous organization, no appearance of digestive, nervous or muscular organs. 
C Radiated form, digestive cavity with one or two openings; nervous system nul, or it consists in ganglia placed opposite each radia 
} of the animal; these ganglia have not as yet a common centre, they are indifferently distributed to both surfaces. No rue 
. Cmui 



3. ARTIOZOAIIIES, 

symmetrical form, 
it comprehends the 



MALACOZOAIRES, 

or 
mollusca. 



ENTOMOZO AIRES. 

or articulated, 
.subdivided into: 



pparatus does yet exist; generation fissiparous or gemmiparous. 

" Soft body, made out of a piece, no articulation; perfect digestive canal, chylopoetic vessels; pulmonary or bron- 
chial respiration; double fleshy ventricle which receives the blood from the respiratory organs and sends it into eve- 
ry part of the body; secretory organs, liver, and salivary glands; generation with the concurrence of the sexes. Some 
species are hermaphrodite; they have a brain and a spinal marrow situated along the digestive canal: some have 
.eyes; there are even some which appear to enjoy the five senses. 

"anasteozo aires f Body borne commonly on paws; intestinal canal complete; tracheal respiration disseminated; 
external articu- J no circulation properly so called; besides the muscles, the locomotive apparatus presents some 
lation or ] hard parts, but they are external and dependent upon the skin; spinal marrow under the di- 
invertebrated. l_gestive canal: in some respects these animals are inferior to the mollusca. 

Different from the preceding by the animal functions; their body is composed of a trunk divi- 
ded into two or three splanchnic cavities: almost all have limbs; a series of hollow bones forming 
a long shaft occupying the middle line of the body, and which contains the spinal marrow; 
at its extremity is the head, composed of the cranium, in which is contained the encephalon, 
and of the face which presents the mouth and the organs of the senses: the mouth is com- 
posed of two horizontal maxillaiy bones, furnished with teeth or horny matter: the intestinal ca- 
nal is provided with secretory glands, which are commonly the salivary glands, the liver and 
pancreas; all have a double circulation, a heart, arteries, veins, lymphatic, chylopoetic vessels, 
and lungs, fishes excepted which have gills: the sexes are separated; all the verteb rated have 
moveable bones which form their frame, muscles which are inserted into them by the medium of 
tendons, and which move them; lastly, they all have red blood; and among the excretions, the 
.greater number have a urinary depuration. 
According as the foetus has acquired, or not, all its development when it is expelled, or is born, contained or not in its membranes; we subdivide the verte- 
brated animal into: 

Oviparous. The germ is inclosed in its membranes with sufficient nutritive substances for its alimentation, till it is hatched. Birds, reptiles and fishes are 

comprised in this order. Certain reptiles and some fishes keep then- eggs within, till the time of hatching: these are the ovo-viviparous. 
Viviparous. The egg fixed in the uterus, receives its nutrition through tire placenta, which establish its communication with the mother; it is expelled 
when it has attained all its development. Their animal functions are more perfect, their instinct greater; this family has a peculiar organ (the mammae,) des- 
tined to prepare the first nourishment of the new born. It is to this species that man belongs, who surpasses all beings in intelligence. 



OSTEOZOAIRES, 

internal articula- 
tion or 
vertebrated. 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

ed, and this constitutes internal gemmiparous gene- 
ration. In higher animals, the concurrence of two 
organs of different sexes is needful for reproduction. 
These organs are mostly borne by different indi- 
viduals. The only hermaphrodites are the amulati, 
and even then they reciprocally impregnate each 
other. 

Classification of Animals. 

Linnaeus, in considering the circulatory appara- 
tus, established in the animal kingdom two great 
classes; the red and the white blooded animals; 
then he subdivided the first class into four orders: 
Quadrupeds, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes. The 
second class comprehends the Insects and Worms. 

M. Lamarck, judging from a striking character 
in the locomotive apparatus, gives to these two 
classes the names of vertebrated and invertebrated. 
At first M. Cuvier had received this classification; 
he subdivided the first class into four orders as Lin- 
naeus, but he recognised five in the second : The Mol- 
lusca, Crustacea, Vermes, Insecta and Zoophyta. 
Afterwards this great naturalist, taking into consid- 
eration the animal functions, divided the animals into 
four classes: irradiated, mollusca, articulated and 
vertebrated. Finally, M. De Blainville founded also 
on the character of organization, the classification 
of which we are about to speak.* 

Now that we are going to establish a parallel be- 
tween inorganized and organized bodies, between 
vegetables and animals, and that we have risen 
from the humblest of these beings up to man, we 
have naturally reached the degree of knowledge 

* See the table on the opposite side, 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

needful to enter upon the particular study of the 
latter. 

op MAN. 

Without making man our particular study, we 
have already pointed out several traits which be- 
long to him; but from the rank which he occupies 
among animals, we must expect to find in him, in- 
dependently of the general characters which he 
participates in with the latter, an admirable degree 
of perfection in his organization and faculties. 

Anthropology, or the science of man, compre- 
hends the study of his structure, and that of his 
phenomena. 

Organization of Man. 

The exterior formation of the human body is 
symmetrical; a vertical middle line, called the 
Raphe, indicates the point of union of the two lateral 
halves. This symmetry that we particularly re- 
mark in the organs of animal functions, is neverthe- 
less not perfect; it is still less so in the organs of 
generation, lastly it disappears in those of the nu- 
tritive functions. 

The structure of man constitutes an organization, 
consequently we meet in him, as in all organized 
beings, solids which compose the organs, and liquids 
which are circulated in them. 

Of Solids or Organs. 

We call organic solids every part of the bod} 
which gives to it its form, and imparts to it motion, 
and the molecules of which are sufficiently adhesive 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

between themselves not to separate the one from 
the other, and not to obey the laws of gravitation. 

Anatomists have not agreed on the number of 
solids. M. Chaussier confines them to the twelve 
following: 

The bones — are evidently the hardest solids; they 
form the frame of the body, and the levers of the 
limbs. 

Cartilages — are, after the bones, the hardest part; 
they are destined to tip the articulating extremities 
of the bones, or to lengthen them. 

Ligaments — are organs difficult to tear, calculated 
Cor strength; some belong to the bones, and others 
to the muscles. 

Muscles — are red contractile organs destined for 
motion; they form the principal mass of the body. 

Vessels — are canals in which the fluids circulate. 

Nerves — are organs of a soft and pulpy nature, 
which are the agents of sensibility. 

Ganglia — are globular organs situated along ves- 
sels or nerves, formed by the union of the one or the 
other, and destined to produce modifications in the 
fluids which circulate in these organs. 

Follicles — are generally small organs destined 
to separate from the blood a humour proper to lu- 
cubrate the membranous surfaces which are liable 
to come in contact with external bodies. 

Glands — are also organs of secretion, but of a more 
complicated organization, and always furnished with 
a distinct excretory canal. 

Membranes — are tissues serving to form, support 
and line the different organs. Bichat divides them 
into simple and compound, according as they are 
formed by one or by two lamellae. 

The cellular tissue is a kind of net-work serv- 
3 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

ing to bind as well as separate all the organs of 
which it forms the Parenchyma. 

Finally, the viscera are the most complex solids of 
the human body, situated in the abdominal cavity, 
and destined for the support and propagation of life. 

In this classification of the solids, which is pretty 
generally admitted, we might, I think, place at the 
head of the list, the teeth, of which M. Chaussier 
makes no mention. 

The inorganic solids are held in a state of equili- 
brium by the expansive power of caloric, which 
tends always to separate the molecules, and the af- 
finity which holds them together. Is this the case 
with the organic solids? The greater number of 
physiologists ascribe the solidity of these latter to 
an unknown power, — life. What is certain, is, that 
the solids are only decomposed after death, although 
their condition is more or less altered in sickness. 

The ancients reduced the organization of solids to 
two elementary fibres, which they considered as 
being composed of earthy matter and gluten; they 
divided it into liniary and lamellated; and accord- 
ing to them, from this fibre arose the cellular 
tissue, which afterwards engendered all the organs, 
which they divided into symmetrical or double and 
single. 

First, it is evident that this microscopic fibre is 
only the creation of the mind; besides, the cellular 
tissue is not the only elementary tissue of our or- 
gans, as we shall prove. 

Modern anatomists acknowledge three element- 
ary tissues, the cellular, the muscular, and the 
nervous. 

The cellular tissue, is that which most gene- 
rally abounds; it is the only one which we remark 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

in the inferior animals; in the others, it forms the 
web of every organ; it is condensed into skin over 
both surfaces; hollowed out into canals; gives birth 
to the vessels, &c; it is essentially composed of con- 
crete gelatine. 

The muscular tissue. This is generally less dif- 
fused; it is composed of contractile globules which, 
according to M. de Blainville, are formed in the cel- 
lular tissue. 

Finally, the nervous or medullary tissue is still 
less diffuse than the preceding; it is likewise com- 
posed of globules, and according to M. de Blainville, 
it is developed in the muscular fibre. 

To these three elementary tissues, M. Chaussier 
adds a fourth, which he calls albugineous fibre; 
but it is generally considered no other than con- 
densed cellular tissue. 

These tissues being simple, woven together, or 
being modified in different manners, give birth to 
all the organs of the human body; and these organs, 
uniting into groups for the execution of a function, 
constitute the apparatuses (appareils.) 

Bichat likewise rejects the elementary fibre of 
the ancients, and considers the composition of all 
the organs to consist of twenty-one tissues, seven of 
which he calls generators: the exhalent, absorbent, 
cellular, arterial, venous, the nervous organic, 
and nervous animal. The other fourteen are form- 
ed by these, but combined in different numbers and 
proportion, and covered with special substances. 
Bichat has called them for this reason compound 
tissues; they are the osseous, medullary cartilaginous 
fibrous, fibro-cartilaginous, muscular animal, muscu- 
lar organic, mucous, serous, synovial, glandular, 
dermoid, epidermoid, and pilous systems. 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

Beclard has modified the doctrine of Bichat, and 
has classified the organic solids of the human body 
into the eleven following tissues: the cellular, 
adipose, serous, tigumentary , vascular, glandu- 
lar, ligamentous, cartilaginous, muscular, and 
nervous. 

All these tissues are not, as some anatomists have 
supposed, the production of the imagination: they 
essentially differ from each other with respect to 
their physical properties and organization; and in 
whatsoever part of the body they are found, their 
actions are every where the same, and distinct 
for each individually. The same thing is the case 
with respect to their diseases. Messrs. Pinel and 
Carmichael Smyth have remarked, for instance, 
that the inflammation of a simple tissue occurs in 
the same manner in all organs. 

Of Fluids or Humours. 

We give this name to all the parts of the body, 
the molecules of which have so little cohesion, that 
they can easily glide over each other, and are divid- 
ed by their own specific gravity. 

Caloric and water are the principal agents of flu- 
idity; but there exists moreover a particular power 
depending on life, which prevents the decomposi- 
tion of these humours, as is demonstrated by the 
alterations which they experience as soon as they 
no longer form a part of the animal. 

According to the degree of separation of their 
molecules, the fluids exhibit themselves in a liquid 
cr gaseous form; and from their composition they are 
said to be simple or compound: in the latter case 
they hold different bodies in solution. 



INTRODUCTION. 29 

The ancients reduced all the humours of the body- 
to four, viz. the blood, pituita, bile and atrabile. 
To each of these four humours corresponded one 
of the four ages, one of the four temperaments, and 
one of the four seasons. 

Afterwards the humours were classified accord- 
ing to their physical and chymical properties: into 
acids, alkalines, and neutral, saline, oily, soapy, 
mucous, albuminous, fibrinous, &c. 

They have since been classified, according to 
their use, into alimentary and excrementitious; 
this classification has been adopted by Bichat. M. 
Richerand believes that all the humours are recre- 
mentitious excrements. M. Chaussier divides them 
into five classes: the chym, the chyle, the lymph, 
the blood, and the secreted humours. 

We may very well, according to Messrs. Bec- 
lard and Adelon, confine the humours to three prin- 
cipal ones; namely: 

1. Humours of absorption. — They are composed 
of all the nutritive fluids derived from the exterior, 
such as chyle and the oxygen of the air ; 2. The other 
materials are derived from internal absorption, such 
as the lymph, and some other principles not well 
understood, derived from venous absorption; all 
these fluids unite to form the blood. 

2. Humours immediately nutritive, or arterial 
blood. It results from the union of the preceding 
fluids, modified in a remarkable manner in the act of 
respiration by one of them, — oxygen. 

3. Secreted humours. They are derived from 
the blood and are extremely numerous; we may 
subdivide them, according to the form and organiza- 
tion of the organ which produced them, 1st. into 
perspiratory humours; such are cutaneous and pul- 

3* 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

monary transpiration, the sero-synovial humours, 
the fatty, all the humours of the eye, the lymph of 
Cotugno, the liquor amnii, that of the umbilical 
vesicle, &c. ; 2d\y follicular, cerumen, the meibo- 
mian humour, and the different mucous fluids; 3dly, 
1he glandular, formed in the glands furnished with 
on excretory duct; such as the lacrimal, salivary, 
pancreatic\\\.\mouYS,\hz bile, urine, sperm and milk. 

Such are, in general, the fluids of the human 
economy. We shall speak again of each in par- 
ticular when we shall have arrived at the function 
to which they respectively belong. 

The solid and fluid parts in man, as well as in 
other animals, are continually converted into each 
other; hence their composition is the same: the im- 
mediate principles are fibrine, gelatine, albumen, 
mucus, oil, water, sugar, osmazome, resin, urea, 
picrocholine, zoohemotine, phosphat and carbonate 
of lime; acetic, lactic and oxalic acids, &c: these 
substances are themselves composed of a certain 
number of ultimate elements, which are oxygen, 
hydrogen, carbon, azote, phosphorus, sulphur, chlo- 
rate, iron, manganezium, calcium, potassium, sodi- 
um, silicium, magnesium, aluminum, and the im- 
ponderable fluids, such as caloric, electricity, &c. 

The fluids in the human organization abound 
more than the solids, but the proportions are diffi- 
cult to determine; they must vary according to in- 
dividuals, ages, sexes, &c. M. Richerand asserts 
that the humours are to the solids as G is to 1. 
Chaussier supposes that they are as 9 to 1. 

Of vital Force or Principle. 

We must understand by this word the union of 
the power and the laws which animate and govern 



INTRODUCTION. 31 

the animal organization. Struck with the extreme 
differences which are presented by all the bodies in 
nature, the ancient philosophers admitted in the or- 
ganized bodies a principle of special actions. This 
idea, revived under the name of vital principle, has 
experienced in our days several modifications that 
it will be proper to mention. Physiologists have 
made of this principle the subject of violent conten- 
tion, and by dint of reasoning, some have even gone 
so far as to confer on this metaphorical being a real 
existence; some have confounded it with the rational 
soul; others have considered it as a faculty of mat- 
ter; lastly, some consider it inherent in organiza- 
tion. 

Human organization presents during life a nu- 
merous series of different phenomena, which may 
be referred to three different orders. Some are 
evidently of a chemical nature; others are the result 
of physical and mechanical laws; thirdly and lastly, 
we have the vital phenomena; these latter continual- 
ly modify the former, their cause is the principle 
which is the object of our inquiry; it is this cause 
which exempts us from the operation of the univer- 
sal laws which inorganized bodies obey; it is to this 
latter that we must refer the intellectual and moral 
phenomena. 

This power comprehends several distinct faculties. 
1st. It is called vital affinity or poiver of formation; 
it presides over the action of generation, nutrition and 
the cohesion of all the parts. 2dly, Irritability ; it 
consists in immediate impressions followed by move- 
ments more or less appreciable: hence arise the va- 
rieties called tonicity, vascular contractility, and 
muscular action or myotility {myotility. 3dly, last- 
ly, sensibility or nervouspower, which comprehends 



32 INTRODUCTION. 

all the impressions perceived, the special sensa- 
tions, and latent sensibility, that many physiologists 
do not admit. There is still another faculty pecu- 
liar to man and of a more elevated order; it is the 
intellectual and moral actions. 

Many modern physiologists ascribe all these vital 
properties to a single one, — sensibility. 

Of Organism, or phenomena of Organization. 

Now that we understand human organization, and 
the force which animates and governs it, we arrive 
at the study of its phenomena or organism, to use 
the happy expression of Stahl. 

The actions of man are already partially known 
to us; we have successively presented them, in our 
general considerations of the living kingdom, and 
nearly in the order of their development. In 
effect, for the sole reason that man is an organized 
being, we know already that his actions constitute 
life; and also, as he is an animal, we know that 
he enjoys the faculty of feeling, moving, of ex- 
pressing his passions, and of being the arbiter of 
his life; lastly, man being binary, vertibrated, and 
himanns, the mechanism of his functions is the 
most complex, and he is endowed with peculiar fa- 
culties, such as speech, intelligence, &c. &c. 

All the organic actions unite to form a certain 
number of functions, between which exists, accord- 
ing to their importance, a singular order of subor- 
dination; notwithstanding this dependence of func- 
tions, there exists between them so intimate a con- 
nexion, that they seem to be reciprocally entwined 
and to acknowledge no other influence than that of 
the intelligence. 

Functions have some general characters and 



TABLE 

OF THE ORDER ESTABLISHED IN THE STUDY OF THE FUNCTIONS. 



Apprehension of the aliments, 
mastication and insalivation, 
deglutition, 
chymification, 

hylification, 

.efecation, 
accidental excretions. 



3rd Genera— Respiration:— Combines it^ sangi 
with the oxygen of the air. alt 

Lalt 



.;.!;el-:it:o" ni' flu- M.h.kI. 



paction of the h 
it J action of the a 
*S action of the c; 



SECOND ORDER. 



i of the i 

5th Genera— . hsiiuitnlwn: — Assimilates it \ composition, 
to their own sutfstanet-tn repair the waste. '/ d< cum p. initio 

6th (ienera — ( 'alurijicalion .- — Entertains f influence oft 
the heat of the body at the same tem-< of heat, 
perature. Co*' cold. 



i'niliciilar. 
glandular sec: 

--Tmpartsmotion C influence of i 

{touch, 
sight, 
hearing,, 
internal ■ 
morbid 



arteries, 
apillary vessels, 



i sebaceous, 

{tears, 
pancreatic ju 
bile, 

ition on the ore 



-hthllrrlunl f„i 
.tlu-m.andreas, 



-Know f of their organs, 
t them; J of their sutircc, 
iv shun] of c 



appreciation, d priori. 



natural station 

soliped, 

kneeling, 

standing on the 1 
lying* 

walking, 
jumping, 
running, 
swimming, 



-En- ("gestures, 
spc-j voice, 
(.speech. 
5th Genera.— Best of the functions of rela- C 

SEXUAL DIFFERENCES. 

Copulation \ 5 action of man, 

I action of woms 
r^tmnofman'i 



L 

fDevelopnuni nfi 
History of the nu 

I lllC-J t-'hxsiolu-y „t til, 

j Of gestation, 

Accouchement, 
\JLactation. 

{1st Infancy, 
2nd Infancy, 
Adolescence, 
Virility, 
Old Age. 



due-trim's ut ieeiuulafm 

cpigencsis, 

evolution. 



S\ iiinatliir- 
S\ nergies. 

Death . . 



C Caucasian, 
< Ethiopian, 
^Mongolian. 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

peculiar traits which distinguish them from each 
other. First, they have each an apparatus of dis- 
tinct organs in the human economy, then each of 
them performs a different part; but they all tend to 
the same end, that is, the preservation of man as an 
individual and as a species; they are, according to 
the expression of M. Richerand, his means oj ex- 
istence, it is from their harmonic unity that life re- 
sults. Their study is the object of physiology. 



Number of Functions, 

Physiologists do not agree on the number of 
functions in man. Vicq-Dazir and Fourcroy admit 
nine of them: digestion, circulation, respiration, 
nutrition, secretions, ossification, irritability, 
sensibility, and generation. M. Cuvier likewise 
admits nine of them, but differing from the preced- 
ing: sensations, movements, digestion, absorption, 
circulation, respiration, transpiration, excretion 
and generation. Bichat admitted thirteen of them: 
digestion, absorption, respiration, circulation, 
nutrition, secretions, external senses, internal 
senses, movements, voice and speech, generation, 
exhalation, and calorification. M. Richerand 
reckons ten of them: digestion, absorption, respir- 
ation, circulation, nutrition, secretions, sensa- 
tions, movements, the voice, and speech, and gene- 
ration. M. Chaussier finally acknowledged twelve 
of them, which are: respiration, circulation, inner- 
vation, digestion, absorption, nutrition, secre- 
tions, the external senses, the internal senses, lo- 
comotion, voice and generation. 



34 INTRODUCTION. 

Classification of the Functions. 

Physicians agree as little as to the order in which 
the functions ought to be classified, as with respect 
to their number; every Physiologist has created or 
modified a classification, so that there exist a 
great number. I believe it to be impossible to es- 
tablish a perfect one, so close is the connexion of 
the functions, of which the actions are simultaneous 
and requisite, in circulam abeuntes (Hipp.); never- 
theless, the order in which the functions of man are 
studied, is not altogether indifferent; that which is 
followed in the Medical School of Paris seems to me 
preferable to all others. The classification of Pro- 
fessor Richerand is simple and natural; he considers 
the functions nearly in the order of their develop- 
ment in tli e different classes of the animal kingdom; 
we shall only add some modifications in the sub- 
divisions. (See the table.) 



FIRST CLASS. 

LIFE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 
FIRST ORDER. 

FUNCTIONS OF NUTRITION. 



CHAPTER I. 

OF DIGESTION. 

Digestion is that function by which the external 
nutritive substances, (aliments and drinks J are 
introduced into an apparatus of organs, to be there 
converted into a peculiar organic matter proper to 
repair the waste of the economy, and fitted to its 
growth. 

Its history will comprehend, 1st. The study of 
the aliments and drinks; 2dly,.some considerations 
on the apparatus of the function; 3dly. lastly its 
mechanism. 

article 1. 

1. OiJlliments. These include all the natural sub- 
stances, solid or liquid, which, submitted to the di- 
gestive organs, is renderd fit to repair the solid 
part of the blood. Many remedies are nearly in 
the same case; nevertheless, in general we ascribe to 
them the character of resisting the digestive ac- 
tion. 

The most natural division of the aliments is 



36 DIGESTION. 

drawn from their vegetable or animal nature, al- 
though some physicians have considered these two 
kingdoms as being identical; nevertheless, it is very 
certain, that vegetables are not so easily triturated 
and converted into chyme as animals; that their na- 
ture is more distant from that of man; consequently it 
is necessary to eat a greater quantity of them; they 
require also a greater capacity in the digestive 
apparatus. 

Man, notwithstanding the opinion of some philoso- 
phers, is essentially omnivorous, and most general- 
ly his taste leads him to mix the two kinds of diet; 
but the one being very stimulating, and the other on 
the contrary debilitating, he causes them to predo- 
minate by turns, according to the quarter of the 
globe that he inhabits; thus vegetable diet is that of 
the burning regions of the equator, whilst on the 
contrary, it is at the expense of animal life that man 
lives in the frozen climates of the polar regions. 

The nutritive principles of animals are fibrine, 
gelatine, albumen, osmazome, caseum, butter, fat &c. 
those of vegetables are sugar, fecula, gum, mucil- 
ages, acids, oils, gellies, gluten, tanin principle, &c. 
The mineral kingdom furnishes only seasoning. 

The ancients, according to Hippocrates, have ad- 
mitted in all aliments one alimentary matter always 
the same: Haltt is the first who objected to this 
opinion; nevertheless the question remained still 
unsettled, when the chemists, and particularly M. 
Marcet, in showing that the chyle essentially differs, 
according to the nature of the aliments, has put an 
end to all debates. 

2. Of Drinks. We designate under this deno- 
mination all liquids introduced into the digestive 
tube for the purpose of repairing the fluid parts of 



DIGESTION. 37 

the blood, they are taken to allay thirst, and dissolve 
the solid aliments; lastly to excite the gastric organs, 
and even the whole economy. 

Water was for along time the first and only drink 
of all animals; but man has since been able to pro- 
cure a number of others, that he employs, it is true, 
rather for the purpose of indulging his taste and 
satisfy his sensuality, than that of allaying his thirst. 
They may be all referred to the three following 
classes. 

1. Water, and drinks of which it is the base, 
which neither contain aromatic nor alcoholic princi- 
ples; 2. The watery drinks, impregnated with aro- 
matic principles; 3. and lastly, those, the active 
principle of which is alcohol. 

article 2. 
Of the Digestive Apparatus. 

In man it begins at the head, crosses the neck, 
the thorax, fills up nearly all the abdomen, and ter- 
minates in the anus. It presents the following parts 
for our consideration: 

1. The Mouth. It is a parabolic cavity in which, 
or about which, we meet with the organs of taste, 
mastication and insalivation. It presents anterior- 
ly the tips, a very moveable veil, separated by a 
transversal fissure, which forms the entrance of the 
digestive canal; behind it, is the isthma fauci, an 
opening which leads to the pharynx, concealed in the 
natural state of the parts by the velum pendulum 
palati, which rises at the time of deglutition to stop 
up|the nasal passages; above, is a solid partition named 
the palatine vault; below, we observe the tongue, 
the organ of taste, the cheeks and the salivary organs; 
4 



38 DIGESTION. 

finally, the mouth presents the apparatus of mastica- 
tion, which is composed ot two jaws, distinguished 
into superior and inferior; they are articulated on 
each other, so as to be able to execute the motions 
of depression, elevation and retraction, produced by 
large muscles; each of them presents behind the 
lips a ridge, in which the teeth are implanted in a 
semicircular form; each jaw has sixteen of them, 
which are distinguished, by their situation and use, 
into incisive or cuspidated, canine and molary: and 
mastication is accomplished by grinding the ali- 
ments between them. 

2. Pharynx and (Esophagus. These are the or- 
gans destined to transmit the aliments from the 
mouth into the stomach; they form a long musculo- 
membranous canal, which communicates above with 
the mouth and the nasal passages, and open below 
into the stomach after having crossed the diaphragm: 
their walls are formed by a muscular coat external- 
ly, and a mucous membrane within. 

3. The stomach. It is a kind of reservoir more 
or less considerable, which forms the beginning of 
the intestinal canal: it is situated immediately below 
the diaphragm; its form resembles that of a truncated 
conoid; on one side it receives the inferior extremi- 
ty of the (esophagus; on the other it is united with 
the intestines by a narrow orifice furnished by a 
valvula, (the Pylorus.) The organization of this 
viscus, contains on its interior a mucous membrane, 
on its exterior a serous membrane, and in the in- 
terval a muscular coat, some of the fibres of which 
are circular, others longitudinal or oblique; it re- 
ceives many vessels and nerves: it is in the stomach 
that the principal phenomena occur. 

The Intestine. It is a long canal and continua- 



DIGESTION. 39 

tion of the stomach, and ends in the anus; we di- 
vide it into several portions by beginning above, and 
ending below. 1. The Duodenum, capable of 
great dilatation, for this reason cslled ventriculus 
succenturiatus; it is in its interior that the biliary 
and pancreatic canals empty. Below it, we observe 
the Jejunum, properly so called; it is a cylindrical 
canal, the circumvolutions of which float in the ab- 
domen and fill the greater part of this cavity. It is 
in its interior that the chylous absorption occurs. 
Next, we meet with the larger intestine, which 
contains the cozcum, colon, and rectum, which ter- 
minates between the nates by a narrow orifice and 
furnished with a sphincter. The larger intestine 
serves at the same time as a reservoir and excretory 
duct for the fecal matter. Where the ileum termi- 
nates and the ccecum begins, we remark the ileo- 
coecal valve, of such a construction that when the 
faeces have arrived in the colon, they can no longer 
retrograde. 

The walls of the intestinal canal are formed with- 
in by a mucous and without by a serous membrane, 
and in the interval by a fleshy coat, composed of 
circular and longitudinal and muscular fibres; these 
latter form three distinct bands in the larger intes- 
tine. 

The interior of the digestive canal is moistened 
by mucus exhaled from the mucous membrane and 
its follicles. This exhalation is very active in the 
stomach, particularly at the time of digestion. It 
produces pretty abundantly, a grayish, viscous, and 
insipid fluid, named Gastric Juice, and to which, 
since Spallanzani, has been ascribed the power of 
dissolving the aliments. 

In man the intestinal canal is six or seven times 
as long as he is high; in the carnivorous animals 



40 DIGESTION. , 

three or four times only, and in the herbivorous 
from nine to eleven times, reckoning, however, the 
length of the bod}- only from the mouth to the anus, 
without taking the extremities into account. These 
differences, arising from the nature of the aliments 
more or less difficult to digest, or more or less nu- 
tritive, which these animals make use of, furnish 
us with a new proof that man is omnivorous. 

Such is the brief description of the digestive ca- 
nal; but it has annexed to it several other organs, 
and which essentially concur in the accomplish- 
ment of the important act of digestion; these organs 
constitute apparatuses with peculiar functions: con- 
sequently, we shall only indicate them here; it is in 
the article of secretions that the details relative to 
them will be found. These annexed or comple- 
mentary organs of the digestive apparatus are: the 
salivaiy glands and the different granulations which 
pour into the mouth a viscous liquid, which the ali- 
ments imbibe in the act of mastication; the amygda- 
lae and the follicles of the base of the tongue, the 
secretions of which favour the passage of the ali- 
mentary bolus at the isthmus of the fauces; finally, 
the pancreas and liver, which pour into the duode- 
num their humours indispensable to the conversion 
of the aliments into nutritive elements. 

The gastro-intestinal canal is contained in the ab- 
domen, a cavity, the walls of which, essentially 
muscular, powerfully concur in expelling the faeces. 

article 3. 

Mechanism of Digestion. 

Hunger. The want of nourishment is demanded 
by the necessity of obviating the waste which we 



DIGESTION. 41 

suffer at every moment; hunger, that every one 
knows from his own observation, is an internal sen- 
sation, which warns us of this want of our bodies; 
susceptible of a great number of degrees, this sen- 
sation is at first slight, and receives the denomina- 
tion of appetite; afterwards it becomes violent, im- 
perious: this is hunger, properly so called, which as- 
sumes the character of pleasure when gratified, and 
on the contrary that of pain when resisted. 

Hunger is felt, when the stomach has been empty 
for some time; it is immediately arrested when ali- 
ments are introduced into it; and it is soon followed 
by 'satiety. A multitude of circumstances modify 
it in a remarkable manner; more lively in the child 
than in the adult, it languishes in old age; it is some- 
times completely lost; it varies also according to the 
idiosyncrasis, the state of health or of disease, cli- 
mates and seasons; lastly, according to habit, which 
imparts to it a regular character of periodisity. Occu- 
pations, amusements, intellectual labour and the 
use of opium blunt it, and even cause it to be com- 
pletely forgotten. 

If by circumstances or the will, we do not satisfy 
hunger, the stomach contracts, a tearing sensation is 
manifested, which causes us to be reconciled to the 
most disgusting food, the intellectual faculties are 
benumbed, every function languishes with the ex- 
ception of absorption, which sucks the juices from 
all the parts to return them into the circulation; 
and hence emaciation soon follows. 

Several hypotheses have been started to account 

for the immediate cause of hunger. Plato and the 

vitalists have ascribed it to a determination of the 

soul; afterwards, in the friction of the walls of the 

stomach, the acrimony of the gastric juice, theten- 
4* 



42 DIGESTION. 

sion of the diaphragm, the lassitude of the stomach, 
the poverty of the nutritive juices, &c. have been 
from time to time conjured up. The sensation of 
hunger is evidently felt in the stomach; does it not 
possess a kind of intelligence or correspondence es- 
tablished between it and the other organs of which 
it foresees the wants? 

Of Thirst. This also is a special internal sensation, 
and distinct from the preceding; it assumes, like 
hunger, the character of pleasure or of pain, according 
as it is gratified or not; like hunger, it is susceptible of 
a thousand different degrees, and may vary accord- 
ing to a multitude of circumstances.' OpiumJ for 
example, which, as we have observed above, ap- 
peases hunger, excites thirst, &c; but here habit has 
no longer the same influence as on hunger; nothing is 
determinate as to the period at which thirst returns, 
it manifests itself with more or less ardour, accord- 
ing as the want of repairing the fluid particles of the 
blood, is more or less urgent. 

When thirst is not gratified, it becomes more and 
more violent, then follows a sensation of heat and 
dryness in the mouth, the fauces and stomach; the 
mucous secretion, dry up, all the organs are over- 
heated, in extreme excitability, and inflamed; last- 
ly, death follows in the midst of a furious deleri- 
um and the most excruciating sufferings, of which 
the crew of La Meduse* offer a sad example. 

* La 31eduse, was a French frigate, which in 1815, was wreck- 
ed, whilst on her passage to India, on a shoal which was un- 
known to navigators; and the miserable crew, obliged to aban- 
don the wreck, was, for a number of days, exposed to a burn- 
ing sun, floating over the vast ocean on rafts, in water up to 
their waists, with only a little bread-stuff' and even that soak- 
ed in sea-water, and without a drop of water or any thing else 



DIGESTION. 43 

As to the immediate cause of thirst, we shall say 
the same thing as that of hunger; it is probably pro- 
duced by a similar cause. Some have located it in 
the pharynx, others in the stomach; but what we 
must not omit to mention is, that it may be allayed 
by injecting liquids into the veins, as Mr. Dupuy- 
tren has proved by his experiments. 

Of the apprehension of aliments. — It is with 
his superior extremities, or with some peculiar in- 
struments, that man carries to his mouth alimentary 
substances; in order to receive them, this latter cavi- 
ty is opened by the separation of the jaws; if the 
opening is to be moderate, the inferior only is de- 
pressed; but when they are widely opened, we re- 
mark that the superior is carried back with the 
whole head. Its elevation may be reckoned nearly 
a fifth or a sixth of the depression of the lower jaw. 
Boerhaave ascribed this elevation of the superior jaw 
to a slight contraction of the exterior muscles of 
the head; Ferrein to the action of the posterior bel- 
ly of the digastricus, assisted by the thyro-hyoide- 
us muscle. — Such is also the explanation given by 
Bichat and M. Richerand. Lastly, M. Chaus- 
sier thinks that this movement is a mechanical re- 
sult of the formation of the temporal maxillary ar- 
ticulation.* 

However, the following actions occur at the time 
of introducing the aliments. 1. The mouth re- 
ceives them passively; 2, or there is an effort made 
by the lips, and to this cause we must refer the sue- 
to allay their thirst and moisten their parched lips in order to 
support their emaciated and macerated bodies. trans. 

* If Chaussier's explanation means any thing 1 , it explains no- 
thing, trans. 



44 DIGESTION. 

tion by which the child seizes at first the nipple 
with his lips, then makes a vacuum in his mouth by a 
strong inspiration, and applying the soft palate to 
the posterior opening of the nasal passages, the 
cheeks and tongue assume the form of a gutter to 
conduct the milk into the pharynx; 3. lastly, un- 
der other circumstances, there is the action of bit- 
ing in order to separate a fragment from the alimen- 
tary mass. 

Of rnastication and insalivation. An operation 
by which the aliment is triturated, softened and re- 
duced into a kind of pulp. When the alimentary 
substance is introduced into the mouth, this cavity 
shuts by the closing of the lips and the depression 
of the soft palate, then the jaws begin to move, the 
inferior is alternately depressed and drawn near to 
the superior, against which it strikes as a hammer 
upon an anvil. The aliment always brought un- 
der the action of the teeth, by the assistance of 
the cheeks and tongue, is divided and torn by 
the incisive and canine teeth and ground by the 
molares. For this end, to the successive move- 
ments of depression and elevation, another, or 
horizontal one, is added, very well calculated for 
trituration. 

In the meantime the saliva, the secretion of which 
is excited by the motion of the jaws, the contact and 
taste of the aliments, abounds in the mouth, and is 
mixed with the aliments in proportion as they are 
triturated, it is imbibed and converts them into a 
soft paste. This saturation, besides the facility 
which it affords to the trituration of the aliments, 
converts it into a paste of an easy deglutition. 

In mastication, the inferioi>jaw presents a lever of 
the third order, the fulcrum of which is the temporo- 



DIGESTION. 45 

maxillary articulation, the resistance more or less 
near the chin, and the power represented by the tem- 
poral, masseter, and internal pterygoid muscles, in 
the middle. Nevertheless, in a few cases, when the 
aliment is placed in the plane of the insertion of these 
muscles, that is to say, between the molar teeth, the 
jaw is converted into a lever of the second order. 
The impulse given from below upwards, which re- 
sults from the shock of the two maxillary bones, is 
communicated to the cranium and face through the 
vertical apophyses of the superior maxillary, the 
arbital and zygomatic portions of the molar bone; 
finally through the vertical part of the palatine bone. 
Of Deglutition. This name is given to the pas- 
sage of the aliments from the mouth to the stomach. 
We may, with M. Magendie, consider in it three 
principal actions. 

1. When the aliments have been well reduced 
into a soft paste, it is gathered into a bolus on the 
superior surface of the tongue; then mastication 
ceases. The tongue applies its point to the roof of 
the mouth, and consequently it forms a plane in- 
clined towards the pharynx; then successively con- 
tracting from its point to its base, it pushes on the 
aliment between it and the roof of the mouth, and 
forces it down the isthmus of the fauces. The soft 
palate then rises so as to form a continuation of the 
roof of the mouth, then at the same instant the base 
of the tongue rises, and precipitates the alimentary 
bolus down into the pharnyx. 

2. No sooner has the bolus passed the isthmus 
of the fauces, than the pharynx enlarges transversly 
by the muscles stylo-pharyngeus, is elevated by its 
own muscles, and with the pharynx by the muscles 
of the sub-hyoidian region, which then contracting 



46 DIGESTION. 

towards the inferior maxillary, the pharynx receives 
its support from it; there results from this instanta- 
neous contraction, that the pharynx being very 
much shortened, it carries with it the bolus, which 
passes with such rapidity through the whole extent 
of this region, that Boerhaave considered this se- 
cond action as a kind of convulsion. At this mo- 
ment, the alimentary bolus can not reascend into 
the nasal passages, because the soft palate shuts up 
their posterior opening; it can not re-enter the 
mouth, because the base of the tongue is raised; last- 
ly, again, it can not penetrate into the larynx, be- 
cause on the one hand the glottis is perfectly shut 
up by the operation of its muscles, and on the other, 
the epiglottis is lowered over it; this takes place by 
the simple action of the larynx being drawn up to- 
wards the base of the tongue. As soon as the bolus 
has arrived at the inferior extremity of the pharynx, 
this organ is depressed and carries it along with it- 
self. 

3. Lastly, the alimentary bolus, thrust, by the ac- 
tion of the pharynx, still lower down, descends gra- 
dually within the oesophagus, by the successive con- 
traction of its circular fibres, beginning at its supe- 
rior and ending at its inferior extremity; at the 
same time the longitudinal fibres shorten this canal 
over the bolus, in order to diminish the space which 
it has to traverse. Gravitation is not an essential 
cause of deglutition, but it helps without doubt the 
descent of the bolus; the mucus which lubricates the 
interior of the oesophagus, also facilitates its descent, 
which is however always rather slow. Finally, 
when it has arrived in the stomach, the inferior ex- 
tremity of the oesophagus remains for some time 
contracted in order to prevent its regurgitation. 



DIGESTION. 47 

It is generally believed that the deglutition of li- 
quids is more difficult than that of solids. M. Ma- 
gendie entertains a contrary opinion. The deglu- 
tition of air, is at all times very difficult, and every 
one can not perform it; it requires great practice. 

Accumulation of Miments in the Stomach. 

Deglutition successively carries down into the 
stomach a series of alimentary boluses; this viscous, 
somewhat compressed by the neighbouring organs, 
is by degress distended, and in proportion to the 
substances which are introduced into it. The con- 
traction of the inferior extremity of the oesophagus 
and the narrowing of the pyloric orifice, which in- 
crease in proportion to the fulness of the stomach, 
detain in it the aliments. When the fulness of the 
stomach is considerable, that is to say, when the 
reservoir is completely full, hunger ceases, and it is 
soon replaced by a sensation of satiety and disgust. 
The abdominal viscera are compressed downwards; 
hence the necessity of making water, the diaphragm 
is pressed upwards, respiration is short and frequent, 
the belly is tense; the heat of the body seems soon 
after to leave the extremities, to be concentrated in 
the epigastric region, a slight chill is felt, which is 
the foreboding of the operation about to take place. 

C hy mi fi cation. When the aliments are accumu- 
lated in the stomach, its mucous membrane becomes 
very red, and is injected with a greater quantity of 
blood, the perspiratory and follicular secretions in- 
crease in activity, and the walls of the stomach em- 
brace more closely the alimentary mass which they 
compress on all sides; in about an hour afterwards 
we observe, in the pyloric portion of the organ, 
some contractions, which soon extend to the whole 



48 DIGESTION. 

viscous; and determine an alternate movement call- 
ed peristalic. These contractions, which progressive- 
ly increase in energy, communicate to the aliment 
oscillatory movements in every direction, which 
facilitates its softening and its impregnation by the 
liquids, and particularly by the juices which ooze 
on all sides in the stomach; if to all this we add that 
the alimentary mass is exposed to a heat of at least 
32 degrees,* we shall then have all the circum- 
stances which concur in altering the aliments, and 
converting them into a homogeneous and grayish 
mass which is called chyme. 

Experience has proved that chymification begins 
at the circumference, moving towards the centre, 
by very thin layers, which are successively direct- 
ed towards the duodenum by the peristaltic con- 
tractions of the stomach; the pylorus opens and per- 
mits to pass those which are well digested (chymi- 
fibs,) on the contrary, it shuts itself up against those 
which are not. At every expulsion, the stomach 
contracts on the remainder of the aliments, and by 
the same mechanism gradually converts every part 
of them into chyme; it is a fact worthy of re- 
mark, that chymification occurs particularly with- 
in the pyloric portion. 

We can not fix in a general manner the duration 
of this operation; it varies infinitely according to 
the strength and nature of the digestive organ, the 
degree of mastication and the quality of aliments. 
M. Magendie has proved by experiments that the 
aliments derived from the vegetable kingdom are 
of a slower digestion, more difficult and more in- 
complete. Professor Dupuytren has remarked in 

* The author must mean 32° of Reaumur, although he does 
not mention it, which of course would make 72° of Fahren- 
heit. THANS. 



DIGESTION. 49 

artificial ani, that the less rich the aliments are in 
nutritive principles, the more quickly they are ex- 
pelled; nevertheless, generally, they seldom re- 
main in the stomach more than four or five hours. 

Physicians have not been satisfied with observing 
the facts which we have just related, they have 
wished to explain them; most of the hypotheses 
which have been built upon these facts are so many 
monuments of a truly delirious imagination. 

1. The doctrine of concoction, suggested b}^ Hip- 
pocrates, has been taken in all the etymological sig- 
nification of the word by the physicians who have 
followed him, who pretended that there occurred iu 
the stomach a true ebullition. 

2. The doctrine of ferment ation was adopted by 
Van-Helmont, and very much in vogue at the time 
when the doctrines of chyme prevailed, ( du chym- 
isme;) a kind of animal leven was supposed to 
exist in the stomach. 

3. The doctrine of putrefaction, evidently shown 
to be fallacious by Spalianzani, who has proved, on 
the contrary, that the digestive action arrested pu- 
trid fermentation. 

4. The doctrine of trituration; it occurs in effect 
in the gallinaceous animals, but it supplies with them 
mastication; the organization of the stomach of man 
rejects the admission of such an hypothesis. 

5. The doctrine of maceration suggested and 
supported by Haller, has not survived him. 

6. The doctrine of dissolution has generally been 
ascribed to Spalianzani. The siomachic digestion, 
according to him, is the result of the dissolution of 
the aliments by a particular juice denominated gas- 
tric, and which, he says, accumulates in the stomach 
whilst empty. This naturalist pretends to have 

5 



50 DIGESTION. 

produced artificial digestions by saturating well mas- 
ticated aliments with this gastric juice, taking care 
to keep up, in the whole mass, a proper degree of 
heat. This doctrine has been admitted by a great 
number of physiologists, Viridet, Hunter, Dumas, 
Richerand, &c. but none agree as to the source 
whence it comes, nor on the nature of this hu- 
mour. 

Many are the adversaries of this doctrine; De- 
montigre particularly, who possessed the faculty of 
vomiting at pleasure, has convinced himself that 
the juice which the stomach contains, whilst in an 
empty state as to aliments, is nothing more than 
saliva, which has often acquired a certain degree of 
acidity by a certain degree of digestion. M. Chaus- 
sier positively denies the possibility of the artifi- 
cial chymification of Spallanzani, as well as the ac- 
cumulation of gastric juice in the stomach: he sim- 
plv thinks that, during digestion, the excitation 
produced by the aliments on the gastric mucous 
membrane induces an abundant oozing of juices cal- 
culated to produce chymification; let us observe, 
that to these juices is superadded the saliva, the 
mucous of the mouth, pharynx, and oesophagus, 
drinks, and a certain quantity of atmospheric air. 

Nervous influence has a great share in the action of 
chymification, as demonstrated, in an indisputable 
manner, by the experiments of Baglivi, Le Gallois, 
De Blainville, Dupuy, Hastings, Dupuytren &c, 
who have divided or tied the parvagum. From more 
recent experiments, performed on the same subject 
by Wilson Philip, and repeated since by Messrs. 
Breschet, Edwards, and Vavasseur, in order that 
chymification may be completely suspended, it 
is necessary that the extremities of the divided 



DIGESTION. 51 

nerve be at a distance from each other; an extreme- 
ly remarkable fact — observed by these experi- 
menters, is, that we may re-establish digestion by 
supplying the nervous influence by a galvanic current. 
Does electricity act the same part in the animal 
economy as in chymical combinations?* 

However, by the joint action of the stomach, of 
the numerous juices which abound in this cavity, 
of the animal heat and of the nervous influence, the 
alimentary mass, whatever besides may be its na- 
ture, is reduced into chyme. This is a grayish and 
viscous matter, of a sweetish taste, which mostly 
has been found acid, and sometimes alkaline. M. 
Marcet, who recently has made an analysis of it, 
has found in it some albumen, an animal matter, 
and some saline particles which consisted common- 
ly of lime; he has found it a little different, accord- 
ing as it was the produce of a vegetable or animal 
diet; in the latter ease, it always contained less car* 
bon. It is very probable that its nature varies in 
the same manner as the alimentary substances: in 
the stomach of a man who died suddenly, some time 
after having taken milk, in an epileptic fit, Messrs. 
Lassaigne and Leuret found in the chyme, lactic 
acid, sugar of milk, albumen, an acid, yellow and 
fatty matter, another substance resembling cheese, 
muriate and phosphate of soda, and phosphate of lime. 

* I can not forbear mentioning" here the very valuable and 
ingenious "Physiological Essay on Digestion," by my friend 
Dr. N. R. Smith, professor of surgery in the university of 
Maryland. This memoir contains numerous facts, derived from 
anatomy and physiology, sufficient to shake our faith in gas- 
tric juice. It is very well worth the perusal of every student 
of medicine, tr±xs, 



52 



DIGESTION. 



Accumulation of chyme, in the duodenum. 

As soon as the chyme is elaborated by the sto- 
mach, it successively passes into the duodenum, in 
which it gradually advances as another flux enters; 
this intestine is dilated and the chyme accumu- 
lates in it; the construction of the pylorus prevents 
it from regurgitating back into the stomach, and 
although nothing prevents its entering into the je- 
junum, it commonly enters only after having un- 
dergone a new elaboration. 

Chylijication. When chyme arrives in the duo- 
denum, it excites in it a concentration of action; the 
mucous membrane is injected with a greater quantity 
of blood, the perspiratory and folliculary secretions 
augment in activity, the excitation is extended to 
the ductus communis choledochus and pancreatic 
duct, and immediately determines an afflux of a con- 
siderable quantity of bile and pancreatic juice; these 
humours continually mix with and penetrate the 
chymous mass. This impregnation is gradually 
produced from the exterior inwards, is besides facili- 
tated by the peristaltic contractions, which slowly 
move on the matter in the intestines. 

As soon as the chyme is impregnated with bile 
and pancreatic juice, it experiences a great altera- 
tion: it assumes a bitter taste and yellow colour; if 
it is derived from fatty matter, we observe, as M. 
Magendie remarks, filaments formed on its surface 
quickly attaching themselves to the valvuloe con- 
niventes of the small intestines; they are, according 
to this experimenter, imperfect chyle {chyle brut). 
In every other case, the chymous mass is covered 
over with a grayish semi-fluid layer, which adheres 
to the intestinal mucous membrane: this new matter 



DIGESTION. 53 

has neither the appearance nor the composition of 
chyle, but without doubt it contains the elements 
of it 

Such are the phenomena which we observe during 
the particular elaboration which converts the chyme 
into chyle; if we wish to penetrate more deeply 
into the mystery of this action, we are involved in 
a profound obscurity which paralyses our senses, 
and reduces us to the vague conjectures of the im- 
agination. All we positively know, is, that the 
chyle is only prepared by the mixture of the chyme 
with the bile and the pancreatic juice; and, never- 
theless, we shall see that Messrs. Lassaigne and 
Leuret even deny, to a certain degree, this position. 
In a memoir which they have just read at the in- 
stitute, they consider stomachic digestion simply a 
dilution of the aliments by the acid gastric juices. 
They have always met with chylous molecules al- 
ready formed in the mammiferous animals; they 
have even obtained some of them in the artificial 
digestions of Spallanzani. They believe that the 
bile only facilitates their formation by thinning and 
dissolving the substances which had not been so by 
the action of the gastric juice; finally, after applying 
a ligature on the ductus communis choledochus, 
they have observed chylification to continue. It is 
well known that Brodie had obtained a contrary 
result. 

The ancients considered bile as a soap proper to 
unite closely the fatty particles with the watery 
parts of the aliments. Boerhaave says that it is well 
calculated to blunt the acidity of the chyme. M. 
Chaussier thinks that it is destined, with the other 
juices, to produce the dilution of the aliments and 
to separate them into chyle and fasces. It is now 
5* 



54 DIGESTION. 

thought that bile separates itself into two parts; the 
one alkaline, which is united to the chyle, the other 
acrimonious and bitter, which is united to the ex- 
crements; as to the pancreatic juice, some ascribe 
to it the property of precipitating the alkali of the 
bile, others think that it serves only to dilute cystic 
bile. 

Chyle, considered in itself, is a fluid of a milky 
whiteness, transparent in the herbivorous animals, 
and opaque in the carnivorous; of a sweetish taste, 
of a spermatic odour; it divides itself, like the blopd, 
into two parts, one sero-albuminous, the other the 
eoagulum, (caillot) consisting of fibrine of a co- 
louring matter, and moreover of a fatty substance. 
According to M. Marcet, that which is derived 
from vegetable aliments, deposits a residuum or 
clot almost colourless, putrefies slowly; when dis- 
tilled, gives out a little sub-carbonate of ammonia, 
and contains more carbon; whilst that which is 
afforded by animal diet deposits an opaque and rosy 
coagulum, it quickly putrefies, furnishes a great 
deal of sub-carbonate of ammonia, contains less car- 
bon, and is covered with a fatty matter which the 
other does not possess. 

Passage of the chyme into the jejunum, and ab- 
sorption of chyle. 

In proportion as the chymous substances journey 
on into the jejunum, they induce the peristaltic 
contraction of this canal, and a more abundant mu- 
cous secretion, which favours their progress. During 
their passage they experience gradually the change 
of which we have spoken, and the grayish, semi- 
fluid and exterior parts, are absorbed by the chy- 
lopoetic vessels with which they are in contact; this 



DIGESTION. 55 

very active absorption, and of which we shall speak 
more particularly hereafter, (see absorption,) con- 
centrates more and more the chyme, in depriving 
it of its nutritive principles, so that when it arrives 
towards the lower extremity of the ileum, its con- 
sistency is very much increased, whilst its chylous 
layer disappears; in a word, it is reduced into an 
excrementitious residue. 

miction of the larger Intestine. It is by the same 
peristaltic motion, that the lower extremity of the 
jejunum induces the alimentary. residue to pene- 
trate into the coecum; the ileo-coecal valve is form- 
ed, as we have already remarked, so as to permit a free 
passage, and to prevent entirely any retrograde move- 
ment; the faeces necessarily accumulate in the coecum, 
as well by its low situation as by the extension of its 
cavity; but after having remained for a certain time, 
their presence excites the contraction of this kind of 
reservoir, and in such a manner that the excrement 
is directed towards the colon; this latter in its turn 
also contracts, and forces on the fcecal matter down 
into the rectum, where it is accumulated; the mucus 
with which the mucous surfaces are besmeared fa- 
cilitates this progression. 

During their course in the larger intestine, the 
faeces are deprived of their more fluid parts, and ac- 
quire a consistency and more or less fetor. M. 
Adelon admits also that at this period a new change 
occurs in the alimentary substances; but most phy- 
siologists think that it is a simple condensation of 
the chymous residue. 

The analyses which have been made of the ster- 
coreous matter by Messrs. Berzelius, Vanquelin 
and Thenard, have given water, albumen, vegeta- 
ble and animal remains, some bile, animal matter, 



56 DIGESTION. 

siliceous matter, some sulphur and several salts. 
The excrements are commonly accompanied, in the 
larger intestine, with several gases: azote, carbonic 
acid, the sulphureted and carbonated hydrogen, &c. 

Defecation. The rectum is very dilatable, and 
permits the foecal matter to accumulate in considera- 
ble quantities; its sphincter, besides, which is almost 
entirely under the influence of the will, hinders its 
escape, and exempts us from the necessity of passing 
it at every moment. Whilst it remains in the rec- 
tum, the stercoraceous residue acquires irritating 
properties; besides augmenting continually in quan- 
tity, it incommodes by its weight and volume, and 
becomes a hindrance to the normal exercise of the 
neighbouring organs; hence it produces in us a sen- 
sation which demands its expulsion; this sensation 
soon becomes imperious and removes every oppo- 
sition of the will. 

In order to satisfy this call of nature the body as- 
sumes a convenient position: sometimes seated on 
a close stool, at others squatted down and bent for- 
ward; then, the rectum, the sensibility of which is 
exalted, begins to act, its longitudinal fibres slightly 
contract to diminish its length, whilst its circular 
fibres contract throughout, beginning above and 
terminating below, and thus press upon the sterco- 
raceous C) T linder; in the mean time the sphincter 
relaxes, the muscles of the abdomen conjointly with 
the diaphragm, which is depressed by a strong in- 
spiration, compress the abdominal viscera over the 
rectum, the levater ani and coccygeus, support and 
renderittense;then the excrement, compressed on all 
sides, is expelled through the anus, in which the 
faeces are moulded and assume their well known form. 
During this effort, Halle has remarked, that the 



DIGESTION. 57 

mucous membrane prolapses under the form of a 
circular ring, which is withdrawn after defecation. 

Of anormal digestive excretions. 

'In a normal state the digestive functions occur as 
we have already described, consequently every thing 
which departs from this natural state ought to be 
considered as morbid; but nevertheless man is often 
exposed to accidental excretions, which are com- 
monly classed with physiological phenomena. We 
shall examine them briefly. 

1. Eructation. When any gas is contained in 
the stomach, it necessarily occupies the superior re- 
gion, from its specific gravity; the inferior extremity 
of the oesophagus being contracted, it prevents the 
gas from ascending into this tube; but if, by any 
cause this obstacle is removed, it immediately enters 
into it, and escapes through the mouth, producing 
a noise which is caused by the vibration of the mar- 
gin of the pharynx, communicated by this gas. If it 
is accompanied with vapours or liquids, the eructa- 
tion assumes the name of a rising. 

2. Regurgitation. It is a phenomenon similar to 
the preceding; it differs only that instead of gas, 
liquid-s or aliments are ejected. Regurgitation with 
many persons is involuntary; however, there are 
individuals who produce it at pleasure, and after 
their meals, exercise this faculty to produce a kind 
of rumination. This happens particularly when the 
stomach is over distended; nevertheless we also ob- 
serve it, when it contains mucus only; its mechan- 
ism is the same as that of eructation; but in the 
individuals who produce it at pleasure, we observe 
at first that they make a deep inspiration in order 



5S DIGESTION. 

to compress the diaphragm over the stomach: per- 
haps they swallow a certain quantity of air; they 
afterwards contract the abdominal muscles on this 
viscus, which they compress at the same time with 
both hands; then the aliments reascend into the 
mouth: the stomach without doubt does not remain 
passive. 

3. Vomiting. This name is given to the convul- 
sive excretion, through the mouth, of the substances 
contained in the stomach, and sometimes from other 
parts of the intestinal canal. 

Nausea. Under the influence of a disagreeable 
impression of the senses, of a titillation of the soft 
palate, of the presence of irritating substances in 
the stomach, of the distension of this viscus, of the 
ingestion of emetics, &.c. &c. a peculiar and inde- 
scribable sensation is induced, which every one 
knows from his own observation, and which is com- 
monly called nausea. This sensation is generally 
referred to the stomach; but we are entirely igno- 
rant as to the particular part in which it is located. 

Mechanism of vomiting. To the sensation which 
warns us of the necessity of vomiting soon succeeds 
a contraction of the stomach and abdominal muscles; 
then the substances contained in this viscus sur- 
mount the obstacle opposed by the cardiac region, 
and are thrust into the oesophagus; their presence 
instantaneously excites the contraction of the fibres 
of this canal, but in an inverse order from that of 
deglutition; in this manner they re-ascend into the 
pharynx: from this moment this latter cavity con- 
vulsively contracts, the glottis shuts up, the soft 
palate rises and assumes an horizontal station, the 
pharyngian cavity is gradually dilated, a great 
abundance of saliva is poured out, the" mouth is 



DIGESTION. 59 

widely opened, the head is a little bent forward 
over the chest in order to shorten the pharynx, then 
the ingesta are briskly thrust out, and often to a 
considerable distance: the same effect is produced 
commonly several times, respiration is suspended, 
the face is reddened, and tears are abundantly shed. 
Such are the phenomena that we observe in vom- 
iting; but what is the active cause of it? the ancients 
ascribed it to a convulsive contraction of the stomach 
directed from the pilorus to the cardiac extremity. 
Bayle at first, and Chirar afterwards, after some 
experiments, came to the conclusion that vomiting 
resulted almost exclusively from the compression 
of the stomach by the abdominal muscles. Haller 
advocated the ancient doctrine. M. Magendie re- 
vived the opinion of Bayle by a series of ingenious 
experiments; for example, he supplied the stomach 
of a dog with the bladder of a hog half full of water; 
he united the parietes of the abdomen; he afterwards 
injected tartar emetic into the veins, and vomiting 
ensued; on the other hand he paralyzed the dia- 
phragm by cutting the phrenic nerves, then he re- 
moved the abdominal muscles; when he found that 
vomiting could not take place, &c. &c. In all these 
experiments M. Magendie remarked the animal 
swallowing air, probably in order to distend the 
stomach, and facilitate its compression by the mus- 
cles which produce vomiting. M. Maingault at- 
tempted some new experiments, which led him to 
contrary results from those of M. Magendie, and 
consequently to consider the stomach as the only 
active agent in vomiting; finally, the new research- 
es of BSclard and of professor Richerand, have 
brought back most physiologists to the opinion of 



60 DIGESTION. 

M. Magendie. However, the experiments of M. 
Maingault leave the question as yet unsettled.* 

Digestion of Liquids. 

The digestion of liquids presents very few peculi- 
arities: arrived in the stomach, they are mixed with 
its mucus, they become troubled, and their tempera- 
ture soon equalizes itself with that of the organ; in a 
very short time they completely disappear; absorb- 
ed immediately from the stomach, they pass into 
the smaller intestines only when they exist in 
great quantity; if they contain any alimentary par- 
ticles, these latter are chymified and undergo the 
different digestive alterations which we have alrea- 
dy described. 

• Who shall decide when such great observers disagree, and 
thus come to opposite conclusions? I think we may draw the 
same conclusion from this difficult point, as from the favourite 
doctrines which have prevailed from time to time, concerning 
the phenomena of digestion, that some of the opinions, here en- 
tertained on this subject, are erroneous, and that the others are 
partially true; because nature has never left, entirely, the per- 
formance of any particular and vital function, to one exclusive 
individual organ or action, but to a system of organs or appa- 
ratus, all concurring to the same end; so that, in case any part 
of the apparatus should, by any morbid cause, be unable to 
perform its office, its place might be easily supplied by the 
other parts of the same apparatus: For example, if either the 
diaphragm or abdominal muscles be paralysed, or both, the sto- 
mach might supply their want by greater efforts in its contrac- 
tions, and vice versa. In this manner, I believe, that all the 
discrepancies existing between the opinions of these great men 
may be reconciled, and it seems to me the only way to form a 
correct opinion from such contrary experiments and results. 

THAX3. 



ABSORPTION. 01 



CHAPTER II. 

Of Absorption. 

The immediate object of this function is to gather 
either externally or within the structure of our or- 
gans, and to elaborate, by means of particular ves- 
sels, different materials destined to repair the de- 
terioration of the blood. 

Absorption is divided into external and internal. 
the former is the digestive, the latter is the lympha- 
tic absorption; we shall successively treat of each of 
them separately. 

ARTICLE 1. 

External) or Digestive Absorption. 

1. Chyliferous apparatus. This name is given 
to a collection of peculiar vessels situated between 
the two laminae of the mesentery, which extend from 
the smaller intestines to the recepiaculum chyli; 
(reservoir of Pecquet) crossing in their passage a 
great number of small bodies called mesenteric 
ganglia. 

According to Cruikshaixk^ Heivson, Hedwig, &c, 
these vessels spring immediately from the free surface 
of the mucous membrane; they pretend to have dis- 
tinctly seen their orifices; or, on the contrary, accord- 
ing to Rudolphi, Meckel, Cuvier, &c. they spring 
6 



02 ABSORPTION. 

from a soft and spongy substance,susceptible of imbi- 
bitionywhich covers the interior of this mucous mem- 
brane. However, these vessels, extremely minute 
and numerous, are at first situated on a circular line 
between the villous and muscular membranes, where 
they form a very fine net work; hence they direct 
their course between the two laminae of the mesen- 
tery, and cross two or three rows of mesenteric gan- 
glia, before reaching the receptaculum chyli, in 
which they terminate in several large trunks. 

The chyliferous glands are very numerous, their 
number increases as they are further removed from 
the intestine; irregularly lenticular, and of a deli- 
cate rose colour, they are most generally considered 
as the result of an assemblage of chyliferous vessels. 
Some anatomists admit small cells between the af- 
ferens and cfferens vessels. 

The structure of the chyliferous vessels is com- 
posed of an external fibrous membrane and of a very 
thin internal one, which presents within small val- 
vular folds. 

2. Mechanism of chylous absorption. For the 
same reason that the formation of the orifices of the 
chyliferous vessels is as yetunkown, we are entire- 
ly ignorant in what the action of absorption con- 
sists. Nevertheless, these vessels evidently possess 
a peculiar action, by virtue of which they suck from 
the chyme the elements of a new fluid, as is de- 
monstrated by the formation of the chyle; but in 
what does this absorption consist? It has by turns 
been ascribed to the compression of the chyle by 
the intestinal parietes, which forces it to enter into 
their gaping orifices; to the capillary attraction of 
the mouths of the chyliferous vessels; to a special 
sensibility joined to an organic contractility of the- 



ABSORPTION. 63 

absorbing orifices, &c. A very curious circumstance, 
worthy of being noted, and which was observed by 
M. Magendie is, that this absorption continues some 
time even after death. 

Of the progression of Chyle. Chyle, what- 
ever may be the mechanism of its absorption, flows 
throughout the chyliferous vessels, traverses the 
ganglia which it meets with on its passage, and at 
last arrives in the thoracic canal, together with the 
lymph; the causes which induce its flow, are 1, the 
continuity of absorption; 2. the tonic action of the 
vessels themselves; 3, the pressure of the abdomi- 
nal viscera by the respiratory movements; 4, lastly, 
the throbbing of the neighbouring arteries. It is 
impossible to give a correct calculation of the motion 
of the chyle, because very probably it varies ac- 
cording to several circumstances. M. Magendie, 
for example, who has made experiments on this 
subject, observed at first, that the progression was 
generally slow, and that it was more active when 
the aliments abounded, and were of an easy diges- 
tion. We might also conclude from this observa- 
tion, that this progression is the less rapid as it ap- 
proaches the more inferior extremity of the smaller 
intestines; and according to the law of the progres- 
sive motion of liquids in tubes of different diame- 
ters, chyle ought to flow more slowly, in propor- 
tion as it approaches the thoracic canal. 

A great number of observations and experiments, 
go to prove, that the chyle is elaborated throughout 
the extent of its progress, and gradually becomes 
more and more animalized. At first white and se- 
rous, it becomes rose coloured and fibrinous. 
Messrs. Emmert, Tiedmann, and Gmelin, assert 
that before crossing the ganglia it is white, and does 
sot become red by the contact of the air; that it 



G4 ABSORPTION. 

scarcely coagulates at all, and only deposites a yel- 
lowish pellicle; that, on the contrary, when it reach- 
es the receptaculum chyli it is rosy, coagulates en- 
tirely, and deposites a cruor of a scarlet colour. This 
elaboration of chyle is generally ascribed to the me- 
senteric ganglia; but physicians do not agree on the 
mechanism of their action, and all that has been said 
on the subject, sufficiently proves that we know no- 
thing about it. Recently, Messrs. Tiedmann and 
Gmelin have advanced that the spleen concurs in 
the act of delineation, in preparing a coagulable 
fluid proper to animalize the chyle in mixing with it 
in the thoracic duct. 

Absorption of liquids. In treating of digestion, 
we have seen that liquids disappear with such ra- 
pidity from the stomach, that very often they do 
not reach even the intestines. Now as the chylife- 
rous vessels do not exist in the stomach, there arc 
necessarily some of another kind, which produce ab- 
sorption. Before the discovery of the lymphatic 
and chyliferous vessels, the ancients considered the 
veins as the only organs of every kind of absorp- 
tion. This doctrine was afterwards generally for- 
gotten, and all the digestive absorptions in particu- 
lar, were ascribed to the chyliferous vessels; such 
is still at the present time, the opinion of most phy- 
siologists. But more recently Messrs. Ribes and 
Magendie have revived the opinion of the ancients, 
and think that liquids are absorbed by mesenteric 
veins; on the one hand they have remarked, injec- 
tions thrown into the vena portarum to issue into 
the intestinal canal, as it had been also remarked by 
Lieberkun; on the other, they have, in well-perform- 
ed experiments, always found in the mesenteric veins, 
coloured or fragrant liquids; that they had injected 
into the digestive canal of several animals, without 



ABSORPTION. 65 

being able to discover the least trace of them in the 
lacteal vessels; finally, they call upon the authority 
of JBoerhaave, who asserts that he had seen the blood 
in the mesenteric veins, become more fluid dur- 
ing the digestion of liquids; and on that of Flandrin, 
who has remarked that this blood in horses preserv- 
ed the smell of the herbs on which they had hd. 
In conclusion, it seems very probable that the ab- 
sorption of liquids is performed by the veins, at 
least in a great measure. 

ARTICLE 2. 

Internal or Lymphatic Absorption. 

The object of this function is to suck up from 
every organ a peculiar juice, known under the name 
of lymph, and carry it into the sanguiferous system. 
There exists in the history of this kind of absorp- 
tion, the greatest obscurity, as well in reference to 
its agency as to its mechanism. 

First, which are the vessels that produce the in- 
ternal absorptions? Since the discovery of the lym- 
phatic vessels, they are generally considered as the 
exclusive agents of this function; but recently, the 
venous absorption-, stated by the ancients, has been 
revived by Messrs. Ribes and Magendie, and who 
particularly ascribe to it the internal absorptions; 
from that moment, violent debates have arisen be- 
tween the partizans of these two doctrines, and in 
the midst of all these debates, nearly as profitable on 
the one side as on the other, most physiologists re- 
main in doubt, and admit provisionally the lym- 
phatic and venous absorption. 

These two kinds of vessels, are in effect spread 
from the surfaces in which the absorptions occur, to 
6* 



66 ABSORPTION* 

the circulatory centre: their origin, in the parenchy- 
ma of the organs, seems to be the same; the fluids 
which they contain, go in the same manner into the 
lungs in order to be converted into arterial blood; 
finally, the materials of anormal absorptions are to be 
met with in both cases. For, if physicians have 
often met with morbid humours in the veins, wc 
may oppose to this the observations of Messrs. 
Dcsgenettes and Soemmering, who have remark- 
ed some bile in the lymphatics of the liver; that of 
M. Diipnytren, related by M. Cruveilhier, in 
which pus was found in the lymphatics, near a tu- 
mour in suppuration, &c. 

1. Jlpparatus of internal absorption. It is com- 
posed of an assemblage of vessels, very numerous 
and very minute; which extend from every part oi 
the body,* to the centre of circulation. These ves- 
sels, named lymphatics, are distributed into two sets 
in almost every organ; the one superficial, the other 
deep: their origin is invisible and unknown; some 
anatomists admit between them and the arteries a 
direct and immediate communication; others think 
that they open by a gaping orifice on the sur- 
faces and into the structure of the organs. Lie- 
berkun asserts that at their extremity is met a small 
spongy vesicle in which terminates an artery and 
a vein; however, as soon as they are perceived they 
are observed to increase in bulk, to anastomose again 
and again with each other, so as to form net-works 
in every part of the body, particularly in the serous 
and tegumentary membranes; lastly, they gradually 
leave their point of origin, traverse several series of 

* As yet none have been discovered in the encephalon, the 
spinal marrow and the eye. 



ABSORPTION. 07 

ganglia which they meet with in their progress, and 
unite at last in two principal trunks: the one, the 
thoracic duct, which receives at the same time the 
chyliferous vessels, and which is situated in front 
of the vertebral column and opens into the left sub- 
clavian vein; the other, much smaller, is the right 
lymphatic trunk, which terminates in the same vein, 
but of the right side. 

A multitude of ganglia intercept the progress of 
the lymphatic vessels; they are generally larger in 
proportion as they are nearer the common trunks: 
their form is rounded or elongated; they are cover- 
ed by a small membrane very vascular. Haller, 
Jilbinus, Hewson, Meckel, consider them as being 
the result of a kind of clustering of lymphatic ves- 
sels (jielotonnement;) Malpighi, Nuck, Hunter, 
Cruikshank, assert on the contrary that these ves- 
sels are here interrupted by small cells. 

The structure of the lymphatic vessels is to all 
intents and purposes the same as that which we 
have described while treating of the chyliferous 
vessels; they are furnished with a multitude of val- 
vulae. 

Lastly, we shall also reckon the venous system 
among the agents of internal absorption; but it shall 
be described hereafter. (See circulation.) 

2. Mechanism of the lymphatic absorption. The 
mechanism of this function is rather inferred by the 
observation of its result, than by any positive know- 
ledge of it; this function indeed is in itself inscru- 
table, so that we can only offer conjectures on it. 
The materials on which this function acts are, 1st. 
the molecules which are derived from the decom- 
position of the organs, which constitutes the inter- 
stitial absorption of John Hunter\ 2, the recre- 



6"8 ABSORPTION. 

mentitial secreted juices, serosity, synovia, and 
particularly fat, the absorption of which is so active 
during abstinence &c; 3, finally the thinnest parts, 
the most assimilable of the excrementitial products. 

To say that the absorbent action of the lymphatic 
vessels is still more obscure than that of the clylife- 
rous vessels, is to announce beforehand that it is en- 
tirely unknown. All the hypotheses which have 
been imagined to account for the one have been ap- 
plied to explain the 'other; thus they have tried to 
explain it, 1, by the influence of a pressure which 
forces the lymph to penetrate into the wide open 
orifices of the lymphatics; 2, the capillary action 
of the lymphatic radicles; 3, a kind of erection or 
alternate movements of contraction and dilatation 
of their extremities; 4, the passive imbibition of a 
kind of spongy substance in which it is supposed 
these vessels arise, &c. 

Whatever may be the mechanism of this absorp- 
tion, the action of the lymphatic vessels is not con- 
fined to the collection of the materials just enume- 
rated, but it effects an especial alteration which con- 
verts them into lymph. This humour seems not to 
be altogether formed in the parenchyma, or at the 
surface of our organs; it is true however that the an- 
cient physiologists considered it as the white and 
serous part of the blood, and such is still the opin- 
ion of some modern authors, who deny the absorp- 
tion of the lymphatic vessels. 

3. Progression of the lymph. This humour 
moves on through the lymphatic vessels and gan- 
glia, from their origin to their termination in the 
two sub-clavian veins, by a mechanism precisely 
like that of the progression of chyle. The causes 
which communicate this movement to the lymph 



ABSORPTION. 69 

are, 1, the continuity of the absorption; 2, the 
tonic action of the vessels themselves; 3, the pul- 
sation of the neighbouring arteries; 4, and final- 
ly, the contraction of the muscles; or the motion giv- 
en to the surrounding parts. Malphi§i considered 
the ganglia as so many little hearts, or active pow- 
ers, placed at different distances along the vessels 
to excite in them the circulation. According to the 
remarks of Soemmering and of M. Magendie, the 
progress of the lymph is extremely slow, but we 
are ignorant whether it be uniform throughout the 
lymphatic apparatus. 

Lymph is a viscous fluid, slightly milky, not of a 
well defined odour or taste; it is divided into two 
parts, one liquid, like to the serum of the blood, the 
other solid, composed of fibrinous and reddish fila- 
ments. M. C 'he vreuil has found in it some water, 
fibrine, albumen, muriate and carbonate of soda, 
phosphate of lime and phosphate of magnesia. 

4. Mechanism of venous absorption. Many 
physiologists maintain that venous blood is only 
the remainder of the arterial blood; that there is a 
direct communication between the arterial and ve- 
nous systems; finally that this latter system does not 
absorb. But, first, venous blood is more abundant 
than the arterial, consequently it contains something 
more than the residue of this latter; second, all 
that we have already observed, and the beautiful ex- 
periments performed by M. Magendie on the sub- 
ject, establish in a manner beyond doubt venous ab- 
sorption. 

The materials on which this absorption acts are the 
same as those that we have indicated for the lym- 
phatic system; as to the mechanism of absorption, it 
is without doubt the same as that of the lymphatic 



70 ABSORPTION. 

vessels; it is enough to say that we are utterly igno- 
rant of it. M. Magendie, in a memoir read at the 
Institute, establishes that this absorption occurs by 
capillary attraction. Still more recently in a spe- 
cial memohyM. Fodira presumes that this action 
is only an imbibition. The circulation of the venous 
blood will be treated elsewhere. (See circulation. ) 

Venous blood, exposed to the air, coagulates and 
disengages a considerable quantity of carbonic 
acid; it separates into two parts, the serum and the 
crassimentum: 1, the serum is a yellowish liquid, 
slightly viscous and alkaline. M. Marcet has found 
in it some water, albumen, or muco-extractive mat- 
ter, muriate of soda and potass, sub-carbonate of so- 
da, sulphate of potass, phosphate of lime, iron and 
magnesia. 2, The crassimentum is a spongy mass 
of a reddish brown, which separates by being wash- 
ed in water into fibrine and cruor, that Messrs. 
Brande and Berzelius consider as an animal mat- 
ter combined with peroxid of iron. 

All that we have just said on external, as well as 
internal absorptions, applies equally to morbid ab- 
sorption. Their mechanism being the same, it be- 
comes therefore superfluous to treat of them in par- 
ticular. 

Here ends the subject of absorption; in their his- 
tory we have acquired a perfect knowledge of the 
materials, which, in the following function, will be 
converted into nutritive fluids or arterial blood. 



RESPIRATION. 71 



CHAPTER III. 



OP RESPIRATION. 



The different fluids which are collected on all 
sides by the absorbents are the only restorative ma- 
terials of the economy; but before becoming posi- 
tively nutritive, they require the intervention of a 
special function, which converts them into arterial 
blood, by combining with them a new element: 
such is the immediate end of respiration. 

article 1. 

1. atmospheric air. It is an elastic, colourless^ 
permanent, compressible fluid, which forms round 
our globe a structure of sixteen or seventeen leagues 
high. It is indispensably necessary for the exist- 
ence of all organized beings, to whom it furnishes 
one of their constituent principles {oxygen). It 
will suffice to recall here its composition in order 
to be able to appreciate the part which it performs 
in the act of respiration. Atmospheric air is com- 
posed of 21 parts of oxygen, and 79 of azote; it con- 
tains besides a small proportion of carbonic acid, 
water, and holds different foreign substances in sus- 
pension, and independently of all this, it contains 
caloric, light, and electricity. 



72 RESPIRATION. 

ARTICLE 2. 

2. Respiratory apparatus. The lungs are the 
immediate instruments of respiration; they are two 
extensible, spongy and vascular organs, situated in 
the latteral parts of the chest which they fill up 
completely; separated from each other by the peri- 
cardeum and the heart, they are united by an aerian 
canal. The one on the right side is divided into 
three well marked lobes; that of the left side into 
two only. 

The organization of the lungs contains, 1, the 
bronchiae, which form the essential part; they pro- 
ceed from the trachea, and ramify infinitely to form 
the parenchyma of the organ; according to Malpighi, 
they terminate in vesicles. Helvetius supposes 
that they freely open into the areolae of the cellular 
tissue. Willis compares the bronchic extremities 
to a bunch of grapes. Reisscissen has observed 
them to terminate in a round cut-de-sac, &c; 2, An 
artery called pulmonary, which accompanies the 
bronchiae through every division; it forms, by its 
ramified extremities according to Malpighi and 
Reisseissen, a rete admirabile over the bronchic 
vesicles. Other anatomists think that their last 
ramifications communicate directly with the pulmo- 
nary veins, the exhalent vessels and the bronchiae. 
Bichat admits an intermediate capillary system. 
What is very certain is, that the injections pass from 
the arteries into the veins and bronchic tubes; 3, 
the pulmonary veins, the formation of the last 
ramification of which is no better known than that 
of the arteries; 4, There are bronchic arteries and 
veins, lymphatic vessels and nerves for the nourish- 
ment of the organ; 5, a lamilated cellular tissue 



RESPIRATION. 73 

which unites all these parts into lobules, successively 
becoming larger; 6, finally, a serous membrane, the 
pleura, envelopes the whole organ. 

The lungs exactly fill the cavity of the pleurae, as 
it has been demonstrated by Haller, Sauvages, Cal- 
dani &c. ; and since on the other side they commu- 
nicate freely with the external air, they necessarily 
follow every movement of dilatation and contrac- 
tion of the chest. 

The form of the thorax is a hollow conoid, the 
moveable parietes of which fulfil with respect to 
the lungs the office of a pair of bellows. Its bony 
frame is formed behind by the dorsal vertebrae, be- 
fore by the sternum, and on the sides by the ribs; 
these different bones are articulated in such a man- 
ner as to move upon each other. A great number 
of muscles complete the parietes of this cavity; they 
may be distinguished according to the movements 
which they produce, into inspiratory and expiratory 
muscles. It is from their alternate action that the 
mechanism of respiration results. 

article 3. 
Mechanism of Respiration. 

It comprehends, 1, the sensation of the want of 
respiration; 2, the muscular action which produces 
the inspiration and expiration; 3, lastly, sanguifica- 
tion. 

1. Want of Respiration. No word can indi- 
cate this want, it is a special internal sensation, 
very distinct in its end. At first it has a pleasura- 
ble sensation; but if not gratified it becomes painful, 
and forcibly urges us to perform the action that it 
7 



74 RESPIRATION. 

provokes; if any obstacle hinders us from satisfying 
it, asphyxia follows. 

This sensation is felt as soon as the air introduced 
into the lungs has been expended, say from sixteen 
to twenty times in a minute; twenty-four times ac- 
cording to Davy; nineteen according to Thomson: 
the medium 2S800 times a day for a man of ordi- 
nary size. 

2. Inspiration. This name is given to the move- 
ment by which the chest augments in capacity, and 
draws the air into the lungs. The dilatation va- 
ries according to the number of muscles which 
are engaged in performing this action. In short 
inspirations, the two muscular portions of the dia- 
phragm are depressed, and compress the abdominal 
viscera; consequently the vertical diameter of the 
chest is enlarged. When the inspiration is fuller, 
besides the preceding movement, which always oc- 
curs, there is an enlargment of the transversal and 
antero-posterior diameters; in order to produce this 
result 'the ribs must necessarily be elevated. 

Haller and Bichat consider the first rib fixed by 
the scaleni muscles, which serves as a point of sup- 
port on which the intercostal muscles successively 
elevate the ribs. Hambcrger presumes that the 
internal intercostals are expiratory muscles; he relies 
for his opinion on their direction. Sabatier asserted 
that the superior ribs were elevated, the inferior 
depressed, and the middle ones carried directly out- 
wards. M. Magendie assures us that the first rib 
has the greatest extent of motion; he grounds his 
opinion on the fact that its head is only articulated 
with a vertebra, that it has no inter-articular and 
costo-transversal ligaments, and that, by contrary 
reasons, the ribs must be less and less moveable in 



RESPIRATION. 75 

proportion as they are lower down. M. Bouvier 
agrees with M. Magendie, who thinks that the first 
rib is the most moveable, and that the chest rises as 
a whole, but in equal degree throughout. 

Finally, in deep inspirations to these motions, is 
added the action of the pectoral muscles, the latissi- 
mus dorsi, the serratus&c; then the dilatation has all 
the extent possible; the anterior extremity of the 
ribs, raised and brought forward, press the sternum 
forward, and communicate to it a movement of ele- 
vation which is somewhat greater below. So that 
this bone appears to perform a slight tilting or oscil- 
latory motion. 

We have said, in opposition to the opinion of 
Van-Helmont, Vepfer, Mascagni, &c, that there 
was not the least particle of air in the cavity of the 
pleura; consequently the dilatation of the chest 
must be immediately followed by that of the lungs. 
In effect, the glottis, at the moment of inspiration, 
opens, as has been demonstrated by Le Gallois, and 
the air suddenly precipitates itself into these organs, 
and remains in them some time before being reject- 
ed. We are ignorant if it be distributed at the same 
time throughout the whole extent of the lungs, or 
into some lobes only; if it goes at once into the 
smallest bronehic ramifications, or if its activity be 
diminished by that which had not been expelled in 
the preceding expiration. 

The quantity of air that penetrates into the chest 
during an ordinary inspiration, has been reckoned 
at 12 cubic inches by Goodwin, at 2 according to 
Gregory, from 16 to 17 by M. Cuvier, and at 15 
by Borelli; this naturalist supposes that for that 
purpose the power of the inspiratory muscles is 
equal to a weight of 32040 pounds, 



76 RESPIRATION. 

3. Expiration. An internal sensation, an un- 
pleasant feeling, a kind of smothering or suffocation 
soon warns us that the air can no longer remain in 
the lungs, and imperiously demand its expulsion. 

Immediately after, the power which had enlarged 
the thorax ceases to act, and this cavity resumes its 
former capacity, the diaphragm relaxes and reas- 
cends into the chest, the abdominal parietes com- 
press the viscera; the ribs having been elevated, 
are mechanically depressed by the relaxation of the 
inspiratory muscles, and perhaps also, as it was 
presumed by Halter, by the elasticity of the costal 
cartilages, which having experienced a slight twist- 
ing, tend to return to their natural state. Lastly, 
in deep expiration, the abdominal muscles, such as: 
the rectus abdominis, the quadratus lomborum, the 
sacro spinalis, the serratus minor inferior, the trian- 
gular of the sternum, contract and bring back the 
ribs forcibly downwards. 

However, the air, according to the ingenious com- 
parison of Mayow, is expelled from the lungs in 
the manner of a pair of bellows when its boards are 
drawn together. Nevertheless, some physiologists 
think that the lungs play an active part in this ac- 
tion; which is very doubtful, for we have already 
remarked that they can not leave the thoracic 
parietes. 

The quantity of air which is expelled from the 
chest is less than that which is taken in, by two to 
four cubic inches according to M. Cuvier; by a 
fiftieth part only according to other experimenters; 
however deep the expiration may be, there will 
always remain in the lungs 1786 cubic centimetres 
according to Goodwin; 1933 cubic centimetres ac~ 
cording to Davy; from 60 to 100 cubic inches ac- 



lording to M. Cuvier. But for physiologists these 
results must vary infinitely, according to age, sex 
and constitution; so that they must be considered as 
individual results and can not be generalized. 

The movements of inspiration and expiration, 
succeed each other without interruption from the 
moment of birth till death. M. Addon thinks that 
this succession entirely depends on the will, since 
both these movements depend upon it, and that 
habit produces them almost irresistibly; but at the 
same time that he refutes the hypotheses more or 
less fanciful, which have been imagined in order to 
explain this phenomenon, he substitutes in their 
place an opinion no less untenable. First, the in- 
fluence of the will over the respiratory movements, 
although very extensive, is, however, limited. Is it 
at the will of the child just born, that his respiration 
assumes an order which it must preserve all his 
life? Where is in him the great influence of habit? 
On the other hand, is it probable that mere habit 
can sustain a function so active during sleep, and a 
multitude of other circumstances in which the will 
is annihilated? The Will, without doubt, has a Very 
great power on the muscular action of this function; 
but I believe that we must not seek in it the imme- 
diate cause of the successive movements of dilata- 
tion and contraction of the chest. 

4. Sanguification or Hsematosis. The essen* 
tial object of respiration is to convert into arterial 
blood the fluids of absorptions, the chyle, lymph 
and venous bloody these humours arrive from all 
sides in the right ventricle of the heart, are sent by 
it into the parenchyma of the lungs, where they 
consequently come in contact with the atmospheric 
7* 



78 RESPIRATION* 

air, in the condition that we know already they 
possess.* 

Before entering into the theories of their change 
into arterial blood, let us first examine what is the 
ground on which they repose. 

1. Jilt er at ion of the air. First, it is incontestable 
that the air parts with a certain quantity of oxygen; 
say thirteen parts in eighteen according to Good- 
win, a fourth only according to Meuzies; from three 
to four hundredths according to Messrs. Davy and 
Gay-Lussac. 

Secondly, Bert hold, Nysten and M. Dulong 
think that it takes up a little azote; whilst Spallan- 
zani, Allen and Pepys, and Messrs. Humboldt and. 
Davy, suppose that there is on the contrary a small 
quantity absorbed. Some recent experiments of 
M. Edwards go to prove that these two effects can 
occur; but that in the ordinary condition, this gas 
takes no part in the act of respiration. 

Thirdly, the expired air brings out with it some 
carbonic acid; eleven hundredths parts according to 
Goodwin, five according to Meuzies y three accord- 
ing to M. Gay-Lussac. 

Fourthly and finally, the air is charged with a 
great quantity of humidity, which has been reckon- 
ed at 560 drachms by Lavoisier and Seguin, and at 
590 by Thompson, per day. 

2. Alteration of venous blood. It comprehends 
the changes which the fluids that are to be convert- 
ed into blood, undergo, since they all unite with 
the venous blood in the sub-clavian veins. 

• We do not admit with Lt Gallois, that Ilxmaloiiis begin* 
from the moment that the three fluids are united. 





RESPIRATION. 


79 


Differences of 


Venous blood. 


Arterial blood. 


Colour .... 


reddish brown 


vermilion. 


Odour .... 


feeble . . . 


strong". Moscati made 
of it a peculiar ele- 
ment of the blood. 


Temperature . . 


31° Reaumur . . 


more than 32° Beau. 


Capacity for caloric 


903° Davy . . . 


913° Davy. 


Specific gravity 


1052° do. . , . 


1049° do. 


Coagoilation . . 


less quick . . . 


more quick. 


Serum .... 


more abundant 


Ie9s abundant. 



The conversion of the blood is instantaneous, as 
is demonstrated by the experiments of Goodwin, 
and those still more ingenious of Bichat. This great 
physiologist adapted, at the same time, a cork to the 
windpipe and another to one of the carotids, and 
according as he arrested respiration or not, he im- 
mediately obtained black or vermilion blood. Ac- 
cording to this experiment, it is evident that the 
conversion of the blood happens instantaneously, 
and depends on the arrival of the air. 

Theories. Some ancient physiologists consider- 
ed haematosis as an action simply mechanical; they 
supposed that it resulted from a close mixture which, 
according to them, occurred in the fine vessels of 
the lungs; but for a long time this opinion has been 
justly forgotten. There remain two other theories 
which divide modern physiologists. 

A. Vital theory. It is founded on the following 
propositions; 1st, the quantity of oxygen employed 
in sanguification, is nearly the same whatever may 
be the richness of the air; 2d, approaching the mo- 
ment of death, respiration consumes less oxygen; 
3d, if there was a combustion in the chest, the lungs 
would be soon calcined; 4th, finally, the separation 
of the pneumo-gastric slackens, and afterwards 



SO RESPIRATION. 

entirely suspends haematosis. Some have had re- 
course to the analogy of the other functions of the 
economy, the aim of which is the formation of a 
new fluid, &c; in this theory it is admitted, that the 
conversion of the venous into arterial blood is sim- 
ply the result of the action of the lungs, on the air, 
on one hand, and the fluids to be converted into 
blood on the other. Can we not say, observes M. 
tldelon, that the minute capillaries of the pulmona- 
ry veins seize upon, at the same, the oxygen of the 
air and the fluids to be converted into blood, and 
that they fabricate with both, the arterial blood. 

B. Chymical theory. In this theory it is ad- 
mitted, that carbonic acid and water, which disen- 
gage themselves in expiration, are the results of the 
combination of the oxygen of the air with the car- 
bon and hydrogen of venous blood: hence the puri- 
fication of the latter and its conversion into arte- 
rial blood; besides, it is supposed that the caloric 
which is disengaged during this combination is the 
source of animal heat. 

Lavoisier only admitted at first the combustion 
of carbon; but not being able to find in the carbonic 
acid all the oxygen employed in respiration, he af- 
terwards added, with M. Laplace, the combustion 
of hydrogen. From the more recent experiments 
of Messrs. Davy and Gay-Lussac, who have found 
the quantity of oxygen absorbed equal to that con- 
tained in carbonic acid, it becomes useless to admit 
this addition; besides, the analysis of the humour 
which arises from the pulmonary exhalation, has 
shown nearly the same elements as in cutaneous 
transpiration; it is more than probable that its origin 
is the same. 

To this theory is objected all the considerations 
on which the vital theory reposes, besides some 



RESPIRATION. 81 

particular experiments: 1st, the quantity of oxygen 
employed in respiration is always nearly the same; 
but this was the natural consequence, since the fluids 
to be converted into blood are always nearly of the 
same composition. 

2d. The air, on the approach of death, loses less 
oxygen; but does this depend on the lungs which 
refuse to act, or rather being less actively dilated, 
the fluids to be combined find themselves but im- 
perfectly in contact? is it not, in effect, to this cause 
that in these cases the imperfection of hsematosis is 
owing? 

3d. If there was a combustion in the thorax, the 
lungs would soon be calcined; but first, this com- 
bination is progressive, slow and continued; it only 
occurs in very small isolated quantities, since the 
bronchic extremities, being very minute, do not 
communicate with each other; moreover, what is 
there astonishing in this combination, when we ob- 
serve in our economy oxyds, salts &c? 

4th. The most formidable objection is that of the 
separation of the pneumo-gastric nerves; this divi- 
sion, which has been particularly made by M. Du- 
puytren, induces, according to this experimenter, the 
suspension of haematosis; the air must consequently 
lose less ox} T gen, and it is in effect what M. Pro- 
vencal has remarked; but what can we conclude 
from these experiments? Is it not true that the con- 
ditions of combination are destroyed, and that the 
fluids are no longer found in the fit relation for their 
combustion; is not this at least what we might con- 
clude from the experiments of M. Be BlainviUe, 
who assures us that he has observed sanguification 
to continue after the division of the parvagum,from 
those of M. Dumas who, after this division, has ob« 



S2 RESPIRATION. 

tained the same result by inflating the lungs with 
air; finally, from those of M. Brodie and Le Galeois, 
who have supported life for some time, and conse- 
quently hsematosis, in decapitated animals, by the 
same means. 

5. At last the experiments of Spallanzani, Nys- 
ten &c, have been arrayed against it. They have 
seen dogs plunged into azote to disengage a little 
carbonic acid; but this objection falls of itself, when 
we recollect that the lungs are never completely 
empty of atmospheric air, to whatever extreme we 
may carry expiration; besides, the blood itself may 
exhale some of it; since, the researches of Messrs. 
Vauqueliiiy Brandt and P'ogelprove thatthe blood 
contains a small quantity of carbonic acid. 

From all that precedes, we may conclude that san- 
guification does not exclusively result from the vital 
action of the lungs, as supposed by man) 7 modern 
physiologists, but from the chymical combination of 
the oxygen of the air, with the carbon, and perhaps 
with a little hydrogen of the venous blood. I do 
not assert, like the chymists, thatthe lungs are en- 
tirely inactive, their state of life is too evidently 
indispensable, for the accomplishment of the func- 
tion; but it only acts when the elements are pre- 
sented in a favourable condition for the combina- 
tion. As to the pneu mo-gastric nerves, can we not 
say that they have this combination under their in- 
fluence, asunder that of an electric current? 

A question, which is not easy to resolve in the 
present state of the science, is, to know in what 
manner the contact of the oxygen with the venous 
blood happens. Some physiologists think that it 
combines in particular vessels, others presume that 
the oxygen, attracted by its own affinity, passes 



RESPIRATION. 83 

through the porosities of the bronchic parietes, to 
the venous blood: this latter opinion is the most 
likely. 

Before ending this beautiful function, respiration, 
it is proper to indicate which are its connections 
with the other functions; 1st, respiration subserves 
the sense of smelling by drawing into the nasal pas- 
sages, or expelling out of them odours; 2d, we have 
already remarked that it was essential to suction, 
defecation and vomiting; 3rd, it is no less united to 
circulation: in effect, it can accelerate or slacken 
circulation; 4th, and finally, it has some relation with 
the voluntary movements, the expressive phenome- 
na and the various emotions of the soul. 

Efforts. Messrs. Bourdon and. J. Cloquei 
have demonstrated, that at the moment when the 
body is making any effort whatever, respiration is 
arrested by the following mechanism: at first we 
make a deep inspiration, then, the expiratory mus- 
cles are immediately contracted in order to effect 
expiration, the muscles of the glottis contract 
strongly of their own accord, so as to shut up this 
opening, and to oppose the issue of the air, so that 
the chest presents a firm point of support to the 
parts which are to make the effort. 

Coughing and Sneezing. These two phenome- 
na result from the sudden, and as it were convulsive 
contraction of the expiratory muscles, the glottis 
shuts only partially, and the air resounds in the na- 
sal passages. 

Yawning. It is composed of a deep and invol- 
untary inspiration, and a prolonged expiration. 
This phenomena expresses weariness and the want 
of sleep, it is accompanied with a considerable 
opening of the jaws. 



84 RESPIRATION. 

Sighing. It is also a deep inspiration, but it is 
slowly performed; it is moreover a phenomenon of 
expression, which is commonly united with a moral 
affection. 

Laughing. It is another expressive phenome- 
na, which consists in a series of short expirations, 
involuntary and commonly noisy. It results from 
the convulsive contraction of the diaphragm, which 
is sympathetically communicated to the facial mus- 
cles, hence the peculiar expression of gaiety of the 
face, with which all the features are expanded; its 
cause is moral. 

Weeping. It occurs nearly by the same mechan- 
ism; the convulsion of the diaphragm is likewise 
communicated to the face, but it gives to it a very 
different expression; weeping is accompanied with 
a more or less abundant secretion of tears. 

Panting or anhelation. It is nothing more 
than ordinary respiration, but accelerated. 

Hiccup. In this phenomenon we observe the in- 
stantaneous succession of a sudden inspiration, in 
which the air enters with difficulty because of the 
spasmodic construction of the glottis, and a convul- 
sive expiration, during which the air produces a 
peculiar noise. 

It is useless to repeat here the properties of arte- 
rial blood. Its composition is nearly the same as 
that of venous blood; beside, we have already indi- 
cated what the physical and chymical changes are 
which in the act of sanguification convert them both. 



CIRCULATION. 85 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF CIRCULATION. 



Circulation is a function by which the blood, 
starting from the heart, is carried into every part 
of the body, and brought back to its centre of de- 
parture. In man there are two circulations, the one 
comprehends the action by which the venous blood 
is sent into the lungs by the venous heart, and the 
return of this blood arterialized to the aortic heart; 
it is called the small circulation, or the pulmo- 
nary circulation: the other, comprehends the pro- 
pelling of the arterial blood, by the aortic heart to 
every part of the body, and the return of this blood 
become venous, to the pulmonaay heart; this is the 
great circulation. The agents of this continual 
movement, have received as a whole (en masse) 
the name of circulatory apparatus; it embraces, 
in man, the hearts, the arteries, the capillary, pul- 
monary and general systems, and the veins. 

ARTICLE 1. 

•Apparatus of Circulation. 

1. Of the Hearts. The hearts are two hollow 
muscles situate in the middle part of the thorax, in 
contact with each other, and divided by a middle 
partition; each of them presents two cavities: one 

8 



86 CIRCULATION. 

situate at the base, the auricle; the other called the 
ventricle. 

The heart with red blood, or aortic heart, is by 
its situation, rather posterior than to the left; its auri- 
cle is smaller than its ventricle; it is of an ovoidal 
form, smooth in its interior, with the exception of 
its auricular appendix, which presents two fleshy 
columns; we observe the four orifices of the pulmo- 
nary veins, the auriculo-ventricular orifice, and on 
the partition which separates it from the right auri- 
cle, a depression corresponding to the foramen 
ovale, a remainder of the foramen of Botal, which 
in the foetus causes the two auricles to communicate 
with each other. The ventricle, nearly of a pyra- 
midal form, presents in the interior, a great num- 
ber of fleshy columnar carneae. From two of these 
fleshy fasciculi, remarkable for their size, spring a 
multitude of small fibres which bind the metral 
valves. Above, w r e observe the opening which com- 
municates with the auricle, and that which commu- 
nicates with the aorta; two membranous folds, situ- 
ate opposite to each other, (the mitral or bi- 
cuspid valves,) occupy the auricular opening, one 
of these folds fills up the aortic passage when it is 
depressed. 

The opening of the aorta, which is anterior, is 
furnished with three sigmoid valves with their three 
free margins looking upwards. 

The right heart, the pulmonary heart, the 
heart with black blood is anterior by its position. 
It presents the same formation as the other. One 
auricle at the base; and in the interior of this auricle 
is found, behind and above, the opening of the ve- 
na cava superior; below, that of the vena cava infe- 
rior, that of the cardiac veins, and an appendix re- 



CIRCULATION. 87 

markable for its fleshy faciculi; below the opening 
which communicates with the ventricle, and within, 
the depression which is the remains of the foramen 
ovale. The ventricle is of a triangular form, it pre- 
sents many fleshy fasciculi or columnar carneae, from 
three or four of which arise the small fibrous cords 
which fix the tricospid valves. We observe above 
the opening which communicates with the auricle 
furnished with three membranous folds (tricospid 
valves), another opening, which leads to the pulmo- 
nary artery, and the entrance of which is furnished 
with three sigmoid valves. 

These two hearts have a common organization: a 
serous membrane on the exterior, within a smooth 
membrane forming the valvular folds; this mem- 
brane is nevertheless different in each heart; within 
the heart with red blood, it is continuous with the 
internal membrane of the aorta and that of the pul- 
monary veins; it is weak, easily ossified, and is very 
little extensible. In the heart with black blood, 
there is continuity with the veins of the body and 
the pulmonary artery, stretches easily, not easy to 
tear, and little disposed to ossify. Between these 
two membranes is contained the proper tissue of 
the heart, formed with muscular fibres and fibrous 
zones. According to the researches of M. Gerdy, 
the muscular fibres are reflected on themselves, 
forming a kind of elbow of different dimensions, 
fixed by their extremities to the fibrous rings of the 
ventricular and arterial orifices. Nerves, arteries, 
veins and lymphatic vessels ramify in this tissue. 

2. Of Arteries. The arteries are canals of a solid 
organization, endowed with elasticity, arising from 
a large trunk at the base of each ventricle, destined 
to transmit the blood propelled by the heart into 



SS CIRCULATION. 

each of the capillary systems. On the left we have 
the aorta, on the right the pulmonary artery. 

The aorta springs from the left ventricle, and is 
immediately divided into two portions, the one as- 
cends to furnish with hlood the neck, the head and 
the superior extremities; the other descending, is 
distributed to the chest, abdomen and lower ex- 
tremities. The arteries are subdivided into trunks, 
and larger and smaller branches, &c; but there is no 
necessity for this regular gradation in order to give 
origin to a small branch; thus we sometimes see 
small and even very small branches arising from a 
large trunk. Anatomists have carried the subdivi- 
sion of arteries to a great extreme. Haller has re- 
duced it to twenty, and even less, for each large arte- 
rial trunk. The arteries, thus subdivided, take some- 
times a direct course, at others winding; they anasto- 
mose with each other, and these anastomoses are 
oftener met with in proportion as they are farther 
removed from the heart, and that the arteries are 
smaller. From this division of the arterial system 
results a tree, the trunk of which is implanted at 
the aortic ventricle, and the branches dispersed in 
every part of the body. 

The pulmonary artery arises from the right heart, 
subdivides into two branches which follow the di- 
rection of the bronchiss, dividing and subdividing 
in proportion as they advance into the lungs; so 
that the pulmonary artery represents also a tree, the 
trunk of which is in the right ventricle, and the 
branches expanded in the lungs. 

Texture of the arteries. The arteries are form- 
ed of three coats: one exterior, cellular; one interior, 
smooth, polished, and continuous with the internal 
membrane of the heart; finally, a middle and proper 



CIRCULATION. 8^ 

membrane of the arteries, with yellow, circular and 
transversal fibres. 

3. Of the Capillary Systems. These are very mi- 
nute intermediate vessels between the arteries and 
veins, forming by their. assemblage, an inextricable 
net work, which constitutes the parenchyma of our 
organs. We distinguish two: 1, the general capillary 
system, in which terminates the arterial blood, and 
where the venous commences; 2, the pulmonary ca- 
pillary system: the venous blood is sent into this sys- 
tem, and is here changed into arterial blood. Their 
arrangement is as important, as difficult to study; the 
general belief, at the present time, is, that the capil- 
laries are almost imperceptible extremities of the 
arterial subdivisions, reflected on themselves, in or- 
der to form the beginning of the veins; at this point 
the anastomoses are so multiplied as to form a net 
work, but variable in the different parts of the body; 
that from the greater or smaller degree of the ca- 
pillarity or minuteness of these vessels, sometimes 
results the passage of the red globules of the blood 
{red capillaries), at others the serous particles only, 
of this fluid (ivhitc capillaries). It is, lastly, ad- 
mitted that in this s} T stem the communication be- 
tween the arteries and veins occurs in the extremi- 
ties of vessels bent into arches or simply transverse* 

Of Veins. The veins are the vessels employed 
to return the blood to the heart; they spring by 
very minute radicles from the capillary systems. 
There are two kinds of them, the veins of the body, 
which bring back the blood from the general capil- 
lary system to the heart, and the pulmonary veins, 
which return the blood to the heart, converted 
into arterial in the lungs. The venous system 
presents a succession of cylinders, which diminish 
8* 



90 CIRCULATION. 

in number, and augment in bulk, in proportion as 
they approach the heart. The veins of the body 
terminate by three large trunks in the right auricle; 
the pulmonary veins open by four trunks into the 
left auricle. 

Texture. The veins have three coats: the exter- 
nal one is cellular; the internal, smooth, and is con- 
tinuous with the internal membrane of the heart: the 
middle one, being the proper membrane of the 
veins, is of a peculiar nature; it is thicker, and more 
elastic in the pulmonary veins than any where else. 

article 2. 

Mechanism of Circulation. 

Let us suppose for a moment the blood arriving 
from the general capillary system in the. right auri- 
cle; this latter dilates, is filled, then occurs its con- 
traction, and the blood is compressed into the right 
ventricle. This latter being filled in its turn con- 
tracts, the fluid is driven into the pulmonary artery 
and the capillary system bearing the same name: 
here, from venous, it becomes arterial, then taken 
up again by the pulmonary veins and returned into 
the left auricle; and we observe the same pheno- 
mena as in the right heart; that is to say, the dilata- 
tion of the auricle, the afflux of blood into its cavity, 
then its contraction and the concomitant dilatation 
of the ventricle; which is filled, contracts, the blood 
is expelled into the aorta, and is carried into the 
general capillary system. In this system the com- 
position of the blood changes, it becomes again 
venous, and is carried by the veins into the right 
auricle, whence we supposed it to start. 

We see that the two circulatory circles make but 



CIRCULATION. 91 

one, that the end of the one is the beginning of the 
other; let us moreover observe, that they are per- 
formed at the same time; in effect, the contraction 
of one auricle coincides with that of the other, and 
the two ventricles, the contraction of which, alter- 
nate with that of the auricles, are also contracted 
simultaneously. The dilatation of the ventricles is 
called dyastole, and their contraction systole. 

Circulation has not been always so well under- 
stood; the ancients believed that there was only an 
oscillation of the blood in the veins; and since they 
found in cadavres the arteries empty, they supposed 
them destined for the circulation of a subtle fluid. 
Afterwards physicians believed in the circulation of 
the blood, carried from the heart into the arteries, 
and this discovery of Galen, so nearly allied to the 
real circulation, was the source of an error, for it 
was admitted that the blood was conveyed in the same 
manner from the heart into the general veins. Har- 
vey in 1619 — 1628 published his discovery of the 
circulation. 

If we wish to discover the power which thus pro- 
pels the blood, and the direction that it follows, we 
shall see that the alternate dilatation and contraction 
of the cavities of the heart is the principal power; 
the heart resembles a double pump, possessing the 
power of propelling the blood from the ventricles, 
and drawing it at the same time from the auricles 
by a kind of suction; besides, the blood can not fol- 
low any other course. During the dilatation of the 
auricle, the ventricle, which contracts at the same 
time, raises the valves which are at the aurieulo- 
ventrieular orifice, necessarily the auricle is filled 
up; the blood can not have any other issue. During 
the contraction of the auricle the ventricle, which is 



92 CIRCULATION. 

dilated, depresses the Bicuspid or tricuspid valves} 
during this depression the arterial orifices are shut 
up by a fold of these valves; the reflux into the 
veins is prevented by the new afflux of blood which 
continually pours into them: the auriculo-ventricu- 
lar is free and directed from above downwards: 
consequently the blood must enter into the ventri- 
cle; nevertheless, some physiologists admit that 
there is always a slight reflux of blood from the 
auricle into the veins; others think, on the contra- 
ry, that this never occurs in a normal state. 

The ventricle thus filled with blood contracts, 
and by the effect of this contraction, the valves of 
the auriculo-ventricular orifice are raised; they 
shut up the communication between the ventricle 
and auricle, the blood can not therefore regurgitate 
into it; this reflux is also prevented by the new blood 
which at this moment arrives in the dilated auricle. 
On the other hand, the rising of the valvular 
folds has left the arterial orifice entirely free; con- 
sequently the blood is ejaculated by the contrac- 
tion of the ventricle, into this orifice, the only course 
which it can take. Does there happen a slight re- 
flux into the auricle, and even into the veins which 
open into it? Here also we find the same diversity of 
opinions. 

Why does the contraction occur simultaneously 
in both auricles, and simultaneously also in both 
ventricles? Why does this contraction alternate 
between the auricles and ventricles? the partition, 
common to both auricles or ventricles, renders it 
impossible for one of these cavities only to contract. 
It is jict so easy to assign a reason for the cause of the 
intermittent action. Moreover it is evident that 
this action could not occur simultaneously, for if it 



CIRCULATION. 93 

did, the auricles could not have emptied their con- 
tents into the ventricles. 

The contraction of the heart is similar to that of 
all the other muscles, with this difference, that it is 
involuntary. This contraction, that Sthal wished 
to assimilate to voluntary muscular contraction, 
that Haller ascribed to irritability,. is owing to the 
action of the nerves of the heart, and these nerves 
must communicate with the integral nervous centres, 
as is proved by the experiments of Le Gallois. 

The contraction of the heart is active, but is its 
dilatation passive? Is this dilatation only the mechani- 
cal result of the pressure of the blood? Nothing of 
this kind is observed. The dilatation is produced 
before the entering of the blood into its cavity. 
A heart torn from a living animal, contracts and di- 
lates itself, although empty of blood. 

In these different movements of the circulation, 
the heart experiences some sensible changes. Dur- 
ing the systole, its tissue is hardened, it shortens, 
its apex strikes against the thorax, within the left 
cavity, between the sixth and seventh ribs. In dy- 
astole, the contrary phenomena happens. This 
shock of the heart against the thorax, that several 
anatomists had attributed to the lengthening of the 
heart, evidently depends on other causes, since in 
this elongation, the valvular folds would be depress- 
ed. Three causes produce it: 1, a kind of tilting 
is produced on the base of the heart, which is fixed, 
and on which it moves as on a fulcrum; 2, the au- 
ricles, which are filled with blood, not being able to 
depress backwards the vertebral column^ push the 
heart forward; 3, lastly, the aorta and the pulmona- 
ry artery, which receive a great impulse from the 
blood, transmit this impulse to the heart. 



94 CIRCULATION. 

It remains for us to appreciate how far the influ- 
ence of the heart on the circulation extends. Har- 
vey ascribes all the circulatory action to this organ; 
others extend its power no farther than the be- 
ginning of the arteries; others again, to the extremi- 
ties of the arterial system. We shall treat of these 
questions in the following article. 

Circulation of the Arteries. The arterial cir- 
culation begins at the heart, and terminates in the 
general capillary and pulmonary systems; two caus- 
es preside over this circulation: the one, undoubt- 
edly the most powerful, is the action of the heart; it 
diminishes in proportion as it approaches the extre- 
mity of the arteries, as is proved by the jerking flow 
of the small arteries; this jerking flow disappears in 
the very small arteries; the other is the arterial ac- 
tion, which is a power of this tissue (elasticity,) and 
another vital power, (contractility); elasticity pre- 
dominates in the large trunks. This power of the 
circulation, which indeed is only secondary, is 
rendered obvious by experiments: for example, if 
two ligatures be placed on the primitive carotid of 
a living animal, and the intermediate part be punc- 
tured, the blood jets out, although it is no longer un- 
der the influence of the heart; elasticity is not the 
sole agent of this phenomenon, for in the same ex- 
periment repeated after death, the blood comes out 
likewise, but not in a stream, or with a jet much 
smaller than during life. Thus pressed by the ac- 
tion of these two powers, that of the heart, and that 
of the arteries, the blood arrives in the capillary 
system. It can not return into the ventricles; the 
sigmoid valves, and the afflux of more blood into 
the ventricle prevents it. 

But the blood in its progress has obstacles to sur- 



CIRCULATION. 95 

mount; indeed its flow is not uniform in all the ar- 
teries. These obstacles are: the mass of the blood 
to be moved, augmented in some places by a direc- 
tion contrary to the laws of gravitation; the friction 
which augmenting with the divisions, the length, 
the anastomoses, the curvature, and the narrowing 
of the arteries. In a word, we must take into con- 
sideration the effort which tends te separate the ar- 
terial parietes from their axis, when the blood, ex- 
pelled by the ventricle, communicates a shock to 
that which is already contained in the arteries. 
This lateral dilatation, which occurs with a throb- 
bing, has received the name of Pulse. The pulse 
presents numerous varieties at different periods of 
life, and under the influence of a multitude of causes 
to which man is subject. 

Circulation in the capillary system. The blood, 
brought on by the arterial extremities into the capil- 
lary system, passes into the veins without interrup- 
tion of circulation; this passage occurs by special 
power inherent in the capillary system, and per- 
haps somewhat by the continuation of the action of 
the heart and arteries. This latter cause acts very 
feebly, if we consider particularly that many ani- 
mals have no heart, that even the foetus has been 
deprived of this organ, in whom the capillary cir- 
culation was nevertheless carried on; finally, what 
can be the effect of so feeble a cause on vessels di- 
vided and multiplied to infinity? Bichat's opinion 
on this subject was, that the whole of the movement 
communicated by the heart, was entirely exhausted 
at this point of the circle, and has ascribed the 
capillary circulation to the sole action of this sys- 
tem. Since, Doctor Wilson Philip has demon- 
strated by microscopic observations, that in fact 



96 CIRCULATION. 

circulation in these vessels, is immediately control- 
led by their peculiar action. But in what does this 
action consist? Microscopic experiments, and patho- 
logical condition, seem to demonstrate in them a 
kind of vital aspiration or suction, which draws 
the blood into the parenchyma of the organs. This 
action, under the control of nervous influence, is, 
like the latter, subject to variations. There are al- 
so some physical causes which may help the capil- 
lary circulation: these causes may also become hin- 
drances. Such are gravitation, movements, &c. 
The obstacles are here as in the arteries, the mass 
to be moved; the augmented friction by subdivisions 
and capillary curvatures. It is generally remark- 
ed that this circulation occurs slowly; besides, its 
rapidity must vary in every organ according to the 
degree of their activity; lastly, it must be modified 
in the same organ by the changes that it may ex- 
perience. 

It is in the general capillary system that the ar- 
terial blood becomes venous, and in the pulmonary 
capillary system, that the venous blood becomes ar- 
terial. In the first case some principles have pro- 
bably been removed, and in the same manner it 
loses some of its principles by its combination with 
the oxygen in the second case. 

Circulation of the veins. The venous circula- 
tion commences in the general capillary system, 
and terminates in the right auricle, and the pulmo- 
nary capillary system in the left. The causes which 
occasion the circulation are, the action of the capil- 
lary systems, and particularly the action of the 
veins, perhaps also a remainder of the impulse com- 
municated by the heart and arteries. Dr. Bary, in 
a memoir read lately at the institute, supposes that 



CIRCULATION. 97 

the venous blood is drawn into the right auricle, 
by the vacuum which results from its dilatation, 
and by the atmospheric pressure. 

The movement communicated to the blood by 
these agents is somewhat slow; indeed nature seems 
to have husbanded a certain number of mechanical 
means in order to surmount the obstacles which hin- 
der the circulation of the blood,and accelerate its pro- 
gress. Such are the throbbing of the arteries, muscu- 
lar contractions, the gradual and progressive diminu- 
tion of the calibre of the vessels in which the blood 
flows, the existence of the small valves destined to 
prevent the reflux of the blood, and to divide it into 
small columns easier to move; lastly, the parietes of 
the superficial veins are considerably thicker. More- 
over, the dilatability of the veins and the great ca- 
pacity of the venous system are means employed 
against the danger of stagnation. The flow of the 
blood in the veins happens uniformly throughout 
without jerkings, its rapidity being not so great as 
in the arterial system, augments in proportion as it 
approaches the heart; the inverse of this is the case 
in the arterial circulation. 

Portal cii'culation. We can not conclude this 
article on venous circulation, without saying a few 
words on the abdominal venous system. This system 
resultsfrom the junction of two distinct main branch- 
es united into a common trunk. One of these two 
branches receives all the blood of the digestive ap- 
paratus, the other ramified in the liver, distributes 
in it, the blood transmitted to the latter of these 
branches by the former. This blood, thus transmit- 
ted from the former to the latter of these branches, 
passes through two capillary systems, that of the, 
digestive organs and that of the liver. We must 
necessarily admit that the same power which has 
9 



9S CIRCULATION. 

caused the blood to circulate in the vena partarum has 
led it through the liver into the sub-hepatic veins. 

Such is the circulation when considered in an in- 
dividual who respires; but in the foetus it presents 
important modifications worthy of our attention. We 
shall only treat here of the peculiarities which it 
presents at the time of birth; referring to the histo- 
ry of the functions of the foetus for the differences 
that it presents at the different periods of its devel- 
opment. 

Foetal circulation. The essential differences of 
the circulation of the foetus at its birth, from that of 
the adult, depend upon some remarkable arrange- 
ments of the heart and vessels. 1, The ombilical 
vein goes, on one side from the placenta into the 
vena partarum, and on the other from the ductus 
venoms into the vena cava ascendens or inferior; 
2, the partition of the two auricles is perforated 
by a hole called j or amen ovale; 3, the right auri- 
cle near the orifice of the vena cava inferior is fur- 
nished with a valve (Eustachi) so disposed as to 
direct the hlood of this vein into the foramen ovale; 
4, a canal called canalis arteriosus uniting the aorta 
with the pulmonary artery; 5, lastly, the two om- 
bilical arteries proceed from the primitive iliac* and 
direct their course to the placenta. 

From this arrangement, it is evident that the cir- 
culation of the hlood is very different from that of 
the adult; Wolf and Sabatier have described its 
progress in the following manner. Being absorbed 
by the ombilical vein from the placenta, the blood 
is partially taken into the vena portarum and in 
part into the vena cava inferior, where it is mingled 
with that which comes from the inferior extremities; 
hence it is poured into the right auricle of the heart, 
it passes immediately into the left auricle through 



CIRCULATION. 39 

the foramen ovale, then into the ventricle of the 
same side, and is ejected into the aorta and superior 
extremities. On the other hand, the vena cava su- 
perior brings back, like in the adult, the blood from 
the superior extremities, and pours it into the right 
auricle, whence it goes into the right ventricle, and 
from this latter into the pulmonary artery; from 
this, it is directed in part into the lungs and in part 
into the aorta, through the canalis arteriosus; united 
in Hie descending aorta with that which is directly 
brought from the placenla, it is distributed on the 
one hand, in the. whole inferior half of the foetus, and 
on the other, it is carried back to the placenta by 
the ombilical arteries. 

The immediate consequences of this arrangement 
are: 1, that the two circulatory systems communi- 
cate through the foramen ovale; 2, that the whole 
blood does not return to the placenta; 3, that the 
superior parts receive the richest blood, since it 
comes directly from the placenta, in which it has been 
revived, and that the inferior receives it only after 
it has passed through the superior half of the body; 
4, lastly, that this circulation presents two circles 
crossing each other in the manner of the figure 8 in 
the heart itself. 

Bichat and Magendie believe, on the contrary, 
that the blood of the two venae cavse is mingled in 
the right auricle, and that it immediately fills the 
left auricle, that these two cavities contract to force 
it into the ventricles, and that these latter expel in 
their turn an identical blood throughout the whole 
body. 

At the time of birth, the foramen ovale, already 
very narrow, entirely disappears, and the circula- 
tion assumes the course which it presents in the 
adult. 



100 ASSIMILATION. 



CHAPTER V. 



OF ASSIMILATION. 



1. Composition. Now that we are acquainted 
with the functions which prepare the vivifying ele- 
ment and disperse it every where, we are necessa- 
rily arrived at that function which assimilates it 
with our organs, and continually renews their sub- 
stance. Such is the end of assimilation. 

Properly speaking, this function has no apparatus; 
it occurs in every part of the body, every organ is 
the seat of its action: it happens within their pa- 
renchyma; it is, therefore, the knowledge of this 
parenchyma that we need at this time; its anatomic 
elements are vessels and nerves ramified to infinity, 
and kept together by a cellular web; but what is the 
mode of aggregation in these parts? what is their 
proportion in the different organs? we know not; 
we do not know even how the vessels terminate; 
injections only prove that they communicate with 
each other. Among the anatomists, some are of 
opinion that the capillary veins are a continuation 
of the arteries of the same kind, they admit then 
lateral pores or nutritive exhalents; others presume 
that there exists between the capillary extremities 
of the vessels, an intermediate spongy tissue. 

Our knowledge of the intimate structure of the 
organs being so obscure, it necessarily follows that 



ASSIMILATION. 101 

we must be equally so of the mechanism of assimi- 
lation. 

In effect, this action is scarcely known but by its 
result. It is generally admitted, since Le Gallois, 
that the blood reaches the parenchyma of each part 
without experiencing the least alteration, and that it 
is changed into their own substance;* but we know 
nothingpositive concerning this transformation; and, 
according to the different ideas which have been 
entertained with respect to the termination of the 
arteries, it is believed that the vivifying materials 
circulate in the nutritive exhalents, or ooze through 
the pores, or through the spongy tissue of the ves- 
sels. But again, is it by a simple mechanical depo- 
sition that the organic molecules appropriated to the 
sensibility of each part, are assimilated to the organs? 
or does there happen a special elaboratory action in 
the parenchyma? In order to admit the former of 
these two opinions, it would be necessary first, to 
demonstrate the primitive existence of the differ- 
ent organic tissues in the blood, and this is far from 
being proved; since gelatine, osmazome, the cere- 
bral substance, phosphorus, sulphur, and some metals 
that analysis prove to exist in the organs, are not 
met with in the blood. The physiologists who 
advocate the latter hypothesis, suppose that these 
principles may very well result from the reciprocal 
action of the elements of the blood, or rather from 
the elaboratory action of the parenchyma: this may 
possibly occur with respect to osmazome, the cere- 
bral substance, &c. But although it is easy to ac- 

* Many ancient physiologists believed that the blood under- 
went different modifications, according- to the organs for which 
it was destined. 

9* 



102 ASSIMILATION. 

count for these organic principles, we can not con- 
ceivehow the metallic or metaloid elementary bodies 
should exist. Is it not more probable that these 
principles, which, however, exist in our aliments, 
should be found in the nutritive fluid, but in too 
small proportion to be detected in it? 

Many whimsical hypotheses have been advanced 
about the mechanism of assimilation: for example, 
the physiologists who considered the cellular tissue 
to be the only element of every part, thought that 
the albumen of the blood was coagulated by heat in 
this primitive tissue, and that afterwards this latter 
assumed different forms and densities by the pres- 
sure of the neighbouring arteries: hence resulted 
the different organs; the chymists supposed that this 
coagulation occurred by the oxygen of the blood. 
It is scarcely worth our while to refute such hy- 
potheses. 

It is generally admitted that this movement of 
assimilation occurs instantaneously, like that of 
hcematosis; but its activity must be materially influ- 
enced by a multitude of circumstances depending 
upon the healthy or morbid condition, and particu- 
larly on the nature and quantity of the aliments. 
There is a medical proverb, that rich aliments 
make good blood, and good blood a sound organ- 
ization. 

2. Decomposition. The interstitial absorption 
of Hunter, and the organic of Bichat. The con- 
tinual assimilation of new molecules with our organs 
would soon have produced a monstrous exuberance, 
if the admirable foresight of nature had not added 
to the movement of composition, another which 
opposes it in its result. The correct experiments of 
Duhamel, Baroni, Ludwig,kc. prove in an incon- 



ASSIMILATION. 103 

testable manner that our nutrition is entrusted to the 
succession of these two movements; these experi- 
menters have fed several animals exclusively on ali- 
ments coloured red with madder, and after some 
time all the organs, even the bones, presented one 
uniform colour; afterwards having ceased to feed 
them on coloured substances, they observed that by 
degrees this red colour disappeared completely: it 
was therefore natural to conclude, that the animal 
economy is composed and decomposed continually. 

The mechanism of this decomposition was de- 
scribed in the article of absorptions; we have already 
seen how obscure the subject was. It is probable 
that the venous and lymphatic absorptions simul- 
taneously concur in it, and it is generally believed 
that they always take up the oldest molecules. 

From the harmonious succession of these two 
phenomena, results that there occurs in our organs 
a continual molecular renovation, by virtue of which, 
in the course of time, the whole economy is en- 
tirely changed; the animal machine, according to 
the ingenious comparison of M. Richerand, resem- 
bles the vessel of Theseus, which had been so re- 
peatedly repaired and refitted during the voyage, 
that when he returned home not a single part of its 
primitive construction remained. 

Ancient physiologists have reckoned seven years 
to be the time necessary to produce a complete 
change in man; but it is probable that it varies for 
each individual according to the activity of nutri- 
tion, and for each organ according to the degree of 
its vitality; so that it is impossible to establish a 
general law. 



104 CALORIFICATION. 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF CALORIFICATION. 



The blood serves not only to nourish the organs, 
but, by penetrating into their parenchyma, it keeps 
up their temperature at a uniform degree, whatever 
may be the ambient temperature. Thus Tillet and 
Duhamel have witnessed a girl to bear, during ten 
minutes, a temperature of 112 degrees of heat with- 
out hers being modified. Banks, Solanders, For- 
dyce, Berger, &c, have entered a stove room heated 
to 79° without experiencing any inconvenience.* 

M. Edwards has remarked that the temperature 
of the body presented some differences according 
to the age, sex, temperament, the healthy or morbid 
state, &c, he observed that it rose from 34 to 35 
[Th: cent:) in children: from 35 to 36 in sexagena- 
rians; from 34 to 35 in octogenarians. 

Source of Caloric. The ancients placed it in the 
heart; Descartes admitted an ebullition of the blood 
inthatorgan; Van-Helmont an effervescence; Vieus- 
sens a fermentation; Borelti presumed that the 
movements of the heart disengaged an ignited 
spirit, &c. 

At the time of the discovery of the chymical 
theory of respiration, the combustion of the carbonic 

* The degrees here alluded to must be of Reaumur, although 
it is not mentioned in the original. traits. 



CALORIFICATION. 105 

gas was looked upon as the essential source of ca- 
loric. Lavoisier and M. La Place, in order to con- 
vince themselves of it, placed animals in a calorime- 
tre, and comparing the quantity of carbonic acid 
gas formed, with the quantity of heat produced in 
a given time, they perceived that the caloric disen- 
gaged was that which necessarily supported the 
quantity of acid formed. Crawfort added that the 
arterial blood, having a great capacity for caloric, ab- 
sorbed it in proportion as it was disengaged by com- 
bustion, and acquired consequently a degree of heat 
superior to that of venous blood. If, to these con- 
siderations, we add that heat is the greater, in the 
animal scale, as respiration is the more capacious; 
that animals bear worst deprivation of air in pro- 
portion as their temperature is higher; finally, that 
heat is diminished in the same ratio that respiration 
is interrupted, as was observed by Le Gallois, Thil- 
laye and Brodie, we shall naturally be led to this 
conclusion, that respiration, properly so called, is, 
if not the only, at least the principal source of 
caloric. 

M, Chaussier has made heat one of the primitive, 
vital properties. M. Adelon thinks that the lungs 
only induce calorification by absorbing the ambient 
caloric. Other physiologists presume that caloric 
is only disengaged by the arrival of the blood in the 
parenchyma of the organs. Boin supposes that it 
results from the unanimous action of the vital func- 
tions. In fact, digestion, racing, &c, augment the 
animal heat; but is it not by quickening the circu- 
lation, and consequently bringing the blood oftener 
in contact with the atmospheric air? 

Lastly, Messrs. Brodie and Chaussat, by experi- 
ments which consist, in destroying the nervous 



106 CALORIFICATION. 

centres and by keeping up respiration by insuffla- 
tion, and in which they observed heat gradually to di- 
minish, incontestibly proving that the nervous appa- 
ratus is one of the sources of caloric; but it is not the 
only one, as they have asserted. The part which 
respiration takes in the production of animal heat, is 
established on incontrovertible arguments. 

In conclusion, the lungs and the nervous centres, 
are the organs of calorification; as to the mode of 
propagation of caloric, it is evident, that on the one 
hand, the arterial blood distributes it all over the 
body, since it is charged with it; on the other, that 
which arises from the nervous system, is probably 
transmitted to the organs through the medium of 
the nerves. 

Messrs. Davy and Edwards suppose that each 
organ has its own peculiar heat. It would be cu- 
rious to know if the differences which are remark- 
ed with respect to this opinion, in the diverse parts, 
have any relations with the number of vessels, and 
the nerves which are distributed in them. 

Generally speaking, parts are colder in proportion 
as they are further removed from the centres of ca- 
lorification. 

The causes which tend to modify animal heat. 

1. Artificial heat. Man, as we have already ob- 
served, can withstand temperatures much above his 
own, and this for the following reasons. 1, The 
skin is a very bad conductor of caloric; consequent- 
ly it takes up very little heat. 2, Franklin has 
pointed out the principal reason, which is the evapo- 
ration of the cutaneous and pulmonary transpiration, 
and that in this respect, the body may be compared 



CALORIFICATION. 107 

to an alcarazas.* This assertion was afterwards 
verified by M. Delaroche; who, by placing animals 
in a close stove room loaded with humidity, in 
which, consequently, evaporation could not occur, 
has observed them to perish at a temparature a lit- 
tle higher than theirs. 

At the moment of death, the temperature of the 
body is only 5° or 6°. 

2. Cold. Man bears cold much better than heat, 
he either supplies himself or artificially, the continual 
loss of caloric that his body experiences. 1, His 
calorifying action augments in energy, and this is 
the reason why the chest of the inhabitants of the 
north, is generally very much developed. 2, The 
skin being a bad conductor of caloric, it necessari- 
ly permits but little heat to escape. 3, Clothing 
prevents also too great an escape of it. 4, Lastly, 
the loss of it is supplied by aliments and exer- 
cise. 

Nevertheless, there happens a moment in which 
he is insufficient to supply his own caloric. The 
subtraction is too rapid and too considerable. Then 
his temparature lowers to 26°, and he ceases to ex- 
ist; in this case death happens, according to M. 
Chaussat, by the exhaustion of nervous power, an 
opinion, which, as it may be easily perceived, is a 
consequence of the theory of animal heat. 

* The word alcarazas is Spanish, and means an argillaceous 
unglazed vase, used in Spain, Morocco, Algiers and Egypt to 
cool water by placing it in the shade. Thans. 



10S SECRETIONS. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OF SECRETIONS. 



We understand by secretion, that function, by 
which certain organs called secretories, produce 
with the blood that arrives in them new humours, 
which, in the economy, are intended for very differ- 
ent uses. 

The organization of every secretory system com- 
prehends vessels, which bring to it materials for se- 
cretion, and a particular order of canals which dis- 
charge the secreted fluid; it is generally thought 
that these two systems ramified infinitely, are join- 
ed by their extremities. 

We distinguish three kinds of secretory organs; 
the exhalents, ihefollicules, and the glands. We 
shall treat the secretions in the same order. 

ARTICLE 1. 

Of Exhalations. 

The exhaling secretory organs are the simplest of 
our economy; they are formed into spongy mem- 
branes, their organization seems chiefly to be con- 
stituted of capillary vessels, which, at the moment 
when they exhale or permit a secreted fluid to 
transude, assume the name of exhalent or excre- 
tory vessels. 



SECRETIONS. 109 

1. Serous Exhalation. This designation is giv- 
en to a kind of albuminous halitus which occurs in 
the internal surface of the serous membranes: the 
arachnoid, pleura, pericardium, peritoneum, and 
the tunica vaginalis; these are cellular, thin, transpa- 
rentmembranes, resemblingsacks without any open- 
ing, lining the parietesof the splanchnic cavities,and 
reflected over the organs which are contained there- 
in. Their internal surface, every way in juxta po- 
sition with itself, is continually the seat of an ooz- 
ing, the product of which is, according to JBSelard, 
mucus, having a gelatinous appearance similar to 
that which we meet with in the albumen of the 
blood. Internal absorption takes up again this hu- 
mour in proportion as it is exhaled; formerly, this 
secretion was ascribed to some small glands. Ruisch 
has proved that they do not exist. 

The serous exhalation which happens habitually 
in the spongy parts of the cellular tissue, must be 
placed in the first class of secretions. 

The same may be said of the secretion of the 
synovia; the membranes, at the surface of which it 
takes place, have the same structure as the serous 
membranes; they also form sacks without opening, 
which line the articulations, the tendinous sheaths, 
and which are met with sometimes under the skin, 
passing over the apophysis. Their exhalation is 
viscous, transparent, of a saltish taste; their chymi- 
cal composition is the following: water, albumen, 
fibrine, soda, muriate of soda and phosphate of lime. 
Formerly, the secretion of the synovia was ascribed 
to the glandulce synovia, the assemblage of a fatty 
fimbriated structure, within the cavities of the joints. 
Haller thought that it was medullary fluid which 
transudes through the extremities of the bones: 
10 



110 SECRETIONS. 

such was also the opinion of Desault, when Bichat 
demonstrated the true source of the synovia. 

We shall also refer to the serous exhalations, the 
formation of the aqueous humours, the cristalline 
and vitrious humour of the eye, and the perspiration 
which is supposed to exist in the interior of the 
vessels. 

Cutaneous Exhalation. The skin, like the pre- 
ceding membranes, contains in its structure an in- 
finity of capillary vessels, which open on its surface 
under the name of exhaling vessels; from these con- 
tinually escapes an albuminous vapour which is eva- 
porated by the air, or absorbed by the clothes, then 
transpiration is said to be insensible; or this va- 
pour being more abundant, appears in drops which 
run over the surface of the skin, and assumes the 
name of siveat. 

This fluid is simple, it contains a great deal of wa- 
ter, a small quantity of acetic or lactic acid; some 
muriate of soda and potass, a little gelatine, phos- 
phate of lime, and oxide of iron. Its quantity is 
very considerable; there results from the experi- 
ments of Sanctorius, that it is the most abundant 
of our secretions; many have been the means tried 
in order to determine the proportions, but the re- 
sults have been very variable, which we might easily 
have foreseen by reflecting only on the differences 
of temperature, dryness, humidity, and the changes 
of the atmosphere; there are so many causes which 
may influence this cutaneous secretion, that varies, 
besides, according to the idiosyncrasies. 

The mucous membranes, the organization of 
which is nearl) r similar to that of the skin, like the 
latter, are the seat of a transpiration which is par- 
ticularly very evident in the aerian passages. This 
latter secretion, according to the experiments of 



SECRETIONS. Ill 

Lavoisier &\\& Siguin, give out 2 pounds 15 ounces 
of liquid per day, whilst cutaneous transpiration fur- 
nishes less by one ounce. The product of the pulmo- 
nary transpiration is a mixture of sero-albuminous 
vapours and carbonic acid; some physiologists as- 
cribe it to the combination of the hydrogen of the 
venous blood with the oxygen of the air. 

The exhalation of the humour of Cotugno in the 
internal ear, may also be referred to this mucous 
transpiration. 

3. •Adipose Exhalation. The adipose tissue, 
confounded for a long time with the cellular, con- 
sists in small membranous vesicles, which receive 
their vessels through the small pedicle, by means 
of which, they cluster together like the berries of a 
bunch of grapes; the fatty exhalation takes place 
within their interior, it is a yellowish, coagulated 
matter of an insipid taste, containing, according 
to the researches of M. Chevreuil, elaine and 
stiarine* The exhalation of this matter is as simple 
as that of the preceding one. Haller maintained 
that it was already formed in the blood; M. Che- 
vreuil has demonstrated lately its existence in it. 
Fat serves as a kind of cushion to the neighbouring 
parts, but besides it may be considered, as aliments 
stored up for future nourishment. 

The central canal of the long bones, in the spon- 
gy substance of their extremities, and within the 
ossa crassa and ossa lata, and within the porosities 
of the compact substance, we meet with vesicles 
very much like the preceding, and which are like- 
wise the seat of the exhalation of a fluid which as- 

* Elaine and stearine are the two approximate oily princi- 
ples contained in fat. They have been lately discovered by 
M. Chevreuil. Tb^kts. 



112 SECRETIONS. 

sumes the name of marrow, within the medullary 
canal, that of medullary and oily juice in the spongy 
and compact parts of the bones. The chymical com- 
position of this matter is analogous to that of fat, it 
is. only more fluid, which is owing probably to a 
greater proportion of claim. 

4. Finally, in the last place we class the secretion 
of the colouring humours of the skin, the pigmen- 
tum nigrum of the choroid, of the iris, and of the 
ciliary processes; in short, those albuminous hu- 
mours which are met with in the glandular renales, 
the thymus gland, the thyroid, &c. their exhalation 
has been sufficiently explained by what we have al- 
ready said. 

ARTICLE 2. 

Follicular Secretions. 

Follicles are secretory organs still more compli- 
cated and less generally disseminated than the pre- 
ceding; they are small vesicles situate within the 
thickness of the skin and the mucous membranes, 
on the surface of which they open through a nar- 
row neck. Their organization is little known, we 
only know that they are excessively vascular, and 
that the sanguineous system communicates with the 
excretory canals, as is demonstrated by injections. 
These follicles are isolated, divided or agglome- 
rated; according to the humour which they secrete, 
they are divided into subaceous and mucous glands. 
1. Sebaceous Secretion. The cryptoe of the 
skin habitually secrete an oleaginous albuminous 
humour, which lubricates all the surface of the 
body and maintains its softness, and constitutes at 
the same time a positive loss of the economy; it is 



SECRETION'S. 113 

very abundant and odorous in the meatus auditori- 
ous externus, the axilla, the genital organs, &c. 

2. Mucous Secretion. The mechanism of this 
secretion is the same as that of the preceding, its 
product is mucus, its nature and particularly its 
quantity vary in each mucous membrane; generally 
it is white, viscous, insipid, not coagulable by heat, 
insoluble in alcohol, soluble in acids. It is to this 
secretion that we must refer the humour of the ca- 
runcula lachrymalis, the molar labial glands, tonsils, 
prostate, the glands of Cowper, &c, 

article 3. 

Glandular Secretions. 

The glands are the most complicated secretory .or- 
gans; they are distinct from all the other parts; their 
organization is very complex, difficult to penetrate, 
and for this reason it assumes the name of paren- 
chyma. In their structure we observe, 1st, arte- 
ries which bring the materials of nutrition and of 
secretion; 2d, excretory vessels which carry off the 
secreted product, veins and lymphatics; 3d, nerves; 
4th, lastly, the cellular tissue which unites the ca- 
pillary extremities of all those parts, which after- 
wards agglomerating, constitute the glands. Ruisch 
thinks that the vessels which bring the materials of 
secretion are immediately connected with those 
which carry off the secreted humour; Malpighi and 
M. Richcrand suppose that there is between them 
intermediate follicles. 

1. Secretion of Tears. 

Organs. The lachrymal apparatus is composed on 
each side, 1st, of a small amygdaliform gland, situ- 
10* 



114 SECRETIONS. 

ated within the orbit, on the external and anterior 
part; 2d, six or seven excretory ducts which open 
on the inside of the superior eyelid; 3d, of two la- 
chrymal canals which arise from the free margin of 
the eyelids, near the internal angle of the eye, by 
two dark and prominent orifices which are called 
lachrymal points; 4th, of a small bag situated within 
the os unguis and sub-maxillary apophysis, in which 
the preceding ducts terminate; oth, finally, the na- 
sal canal joined to the lachrymal sack, and which 
opens into the inferior meatus of the nasal passages. 
Functions. The ancients ascribed to the carun- 
cula lachrymal is the production of tears; some be- 
lieved that they were transuded through the cornea. 
Halhr attributed its exhalation to the lacrhymal 
gland and conjunctiva. This fluid is continually 
poured over the ball of the eye by the small excre- 
tory ducts of the gland; it maintains the humidity 
and preserves the transparency of the eye, as well 
as facilitates its movements; it is afterwards ab- 
sorbed by the lachrymal points, and conducted into 
the nasal passages, where it is mixed with the mu- 
cous. Its analysis gives a great deal of water, 
mucilage, phosphate of soda and of lime, and muri- 
ate of soda. 

2. Salivary Secretion. 

Organs. The salivary glands are three in num- 
ber on each side of the mouth; 1. the parotid, situ- 
ated behind the condyle of the jaw; its excretory 
canal (the duct of Steno,) opens into the mouth op- 
posite the second molar tooth; 2. the sub-maxillary ', 
placed under the base of the lower jaw; the canal 
of Wharton, which is its excretory duct, terminates 
in the mouth, near the frenum of the tongue; 3. final- 



SECRETIONS. 115 

ly, the sub-lingual, provided with several canals 
which open near the preceding. 

Functions. These glands habitually pour out 
into the mouth a viscous, insipid humour, which 
soon mixes with the air and becomes frothy. It 
contains much water, animal mucilage, lactate of 
soda, muriate of potass and of soda, &c. 

3. Secretion of the Pancreatic Juice. 

Organ. The pancreas is a gland very analogous 
to the preceding; situate transversely and before the 
vertebral column, and behind the stomach; it is fur- 
nished with an excretory canal which empties into 
the duodenum, below its superior two-thirds. 

Function. The fluid secreted by this gland, 
flows, according to some authors, (M. Magendie,) 
continually into the duodenum; according to others 
it only flows at the time of digestion; it appears at 
least that at this time this juice is poured into it more 
abundantly. Its nature is not well understood, it is 
commonly compared to saliva; Hoffman, Boer- 
haave, and Magendie, consider it alkaline, others 
believe it acid. 

4. Secretion of Bile. 

Organ. The liver is the most voluminous of all 
the glands; situate in the abdomen below the dia- 
phragm, above the stomach and the intestinal mass, 
it occupies the right hypochondrium, and a part of 
the epigastrium; its form is difficult to describe; one 
of its surfaces is convex and directed upwards and 
forwards, the other is concave and looks downwards 
and inwards; it is from this latter, which is very ir- 
regular, that arises the common trunk of the excre- 



116 SECRETIONS. 

lory vessels; this canal is directed downwards and 
inwards, it soon meets with the duct of the gall 
bladder, with which it unites in a very acute angle 
in order to form the common biliary duct; this lat- 
ter empties into the duodenum near the pancreatic 
canal. 

The organization of the liver resembles that of all 
the other glands; but that which essentially distin- 
guishes it from the others, is its receiving a great 
quantity of venous blood, which is brought to it by 
the vena portarum, from the digestive organs and 
the spleen. 

Function. When the blood has reached the last 
radicles of the sanguineous system of the liver, it is 
there elaborated and converted into bile; hence this 
new product is slowly coiweyed in the secretory 
vessels, by the sole action of the continual secretion 
and the habitual movements of the neighbouring 
parts; in its progress the more fluid parts of the 
bile are reabsorbed, consequently this humour be- 
comes gradually thicker until it arrives in the duo- 
denum. 

Some physiologists think that it flows continually 
into this intestine, but after the period of digestion 
thatitflows back through the cystic duct, into the gall 
bladder, where it is thickened, afterwards concreted, 
and evacuated at the moment of chylification. In 
his experiments, M. Magendie has indeed observed 
the bile to issue at all times into the duodenum; 
but other authors, arguing on the difficulty that a 
part of the bile must experience in the retrograde 
motion into the cystic duct, the common duct being 
however all the while open, maintain that this lat- 
ter is always closed except when digestion is going 
on, and for this reason, the bile is obliged to flow 



SECRETIONS. 117 

back into the gall bladder. The nature of this work 
obliges us to wave every discussion, we shall only 
mention that nothing induces us to believe the per- 
manent contraction of the ductus communis chole- 
dochus after the period of digestion, and that the 
opinion first advanced, besides being more general, 
appears to us the nearest to the truth.* 

The bile is a bitter viscous fluid, of a yellowish 
green, more or less dark; that which has remained 
in the gall bladder is always thicker and of a better 
consistency; it is this latter which serves as a type 
with respect to its chymical and physical properties; 
it contains a large proportion of water, a resinous 
matter, a colouring yellowish matter, some soda, 
phosphate, hydro-chlorate and sulphate of lime, 
phosphate of lime and oxide of iron. M. Chevalier 
has found in it some picromel; Messrs. Thenard 
and Orfila assert that there is none. 

Many are the hypotheses advanced on the origin 
of the bile, some believe it to come from the vena 
portarum, others from the hepatic artery; finally, 
some have a sort of mixed opinion. 

The reasons on which the first ground their opin- 
ion, are: 1, the mere existence of the vena portarum; 
2, the nature of its blood, which contains more hy- 
drogen and carbon, and for this reason better calcu- 
lated to produce a fatty matter like the bile; 3, the 
vein seems to have, by its calibre, a greater relation to 
the abundance of the secretion, than that of the ar- 
tery, which seems to exist simply for the nutrition 
of the organ; 4, finally, the communication of this 

* Formerly some hepato-cydic canals were admitted, through 
which, according- to these authors, the bile flowed into the gall 
bladder. 



118 SECRETIONS. 

vein with the excretory ducts. The originaters of 
this opinion consider the spleen as a vascular gan- 
glion destined to prepare the materials of the bile. 

The physiologists who, on the contrary, think 
that the bile comes from the arterial blood, produc- 
ed the following facts: 1, the analogy of the other 
secretory glands; 2, the absence of the portal sys- 
tem in the invertebrated animals; 3, some cases in 
which this vein was found to open into the vena 
cava; they add that this vena portarum is very much 
developed in the foetus, and that nevertheless the bili- 
ary secretion is very small; that besides, the arterial 
blood is very well calculated to produce fatty sub- 
stances, since it is the only source of adipose exha- 
lation, &c; but in this case what is the use of the 
spleen? The subject is open for the imagination to 
expatiate in, and a multitude of hypotheses are pre- 
sented. 

M. Chaussier asserts that it exhales a juice which 
assists in the formation of the lymph (lymphose). 
Messrs. Tiedmann and Gmelin think that it pre- 
pares a humour proper to animalize the chyle; others 
presume that it prepares the blood for the secretion 
of the gastric juice; Lieut and, and in our days M. 
Broussais, consider it as a diverticulum of the cir- 
culation of the stomach. The latter believes also 
that the vena portarum has a similar use with re- 
spect to the intestinal canal. 

Thus the source of the bile is yet an unsolved 
problem in the present state of physiology; it should 
seem necessary to institute experiments to solve it; 
for in so delicate a subject, induction only is not 
sufficient and can not serve as the basis of a demon- 
stration. 

Bile is a humour indispensable to chylincation; 



SECRETIONS. 119 

the superabundance of its secretion gives a peculiar 
character to the economy which constitutes a tem- 
perament. 

5. Secretion of Urine. 

Organs. The urinary apparatus is the most com- 
plex of all the secretory apparatuses; it is composed 
of: 

1st, Of the Kidneys. These are two glands re- 
sembling a common bean, situate in the abdomen 
on each side of the vertebral column, before the last 
false ribs, and of the quadratus lomborum; they are 
surrounded on all sides by a cellular tissue loaded 
with a great quantity of fat; their volume is small 
when compared with the quantity of their secretion; 
but they receive a very voluminous artery, which 
may bring to them nearly one eighth of the blood 
of the aorta. Their parenchyma or web is com- 
posed of a cortical or glandular substance, which 
occupies the exterior surface of the kidney two or 
three lines thick, finally of an internal tubular sub- 
stance; this latter is composed of a conoid collection 
of excretory capillary vessels (the conduits of 
Bellini) which terminate in the pyramid or papilla, 
which is itself surrounded by a calice. 

2d. Of the Ureters. These are two excretory 
canals of the size of a common goose quill, which 
begin within the thickness of the kidneys by an 
oval cavity called the pelvis, and which results from 
the union of all the calices; this latter cavity is nar- 
rowed into a passage, the infundibulum, in order 
to form the ureter, properly so called, which termi- 
nates in the lower fundus of the bladder. 

3d. Of the Bladder. It is a membranous muscu- 
lar reservoir situated in the cavity of the pelvis, 



120 SECRETIONS. 

anterior to the rectum or uterus, and which may be 
considered as the common enlargement of the two 
ureters which open into the inferior part of its lower 
fundus. Its excretory orifice or its neck, {vesical 
triangle) is somewhat higher than the bas-fond or 
lower fundus, of which it occupies the anterior 
part; it is furnished with a small tubercle called the 
uvula vesicas; at first a little excavated, soon con- 
tracts to give rise to the canal of the urethra. The 
parietes of the bladder are formed within, by a mu- 
cous membrane; without, by a fleshy layer of which 
the longitudinal or oblique fibres, often anastomose 
with each other, and seem to arise from the neck; 
about the latter, they are transverse and more com- 
pact; they form the sphincler of the bladder. Fi- 
nally, the peritonaeum forms a third membrane, but 
it only lines the posterior part of the organ. 

4th. Of the Urethra. It is the last part of the 
urinary apparatus, and the excretory canal of the 
bladder; beginning at the neck of this organ and 
terminating in the extremity of the penis in man; it 
ends in females immediatel)" below the symphisis 
pubis, so that its length is very different in the sexes. 
It is composed of a mucous membrane, covered with 
a very vascular, spongy, and cellular tissue. In man 
we distinguish three distinct parts of this canal: the 
first is from 16 to 20 lines in length, traverses the 
prostate gland; slightly excavated at its middle part, 
it presents a kind of longitudinal projection which is 
designated by the name of verumontanum, and the 
orifices of the glands of Cowper, of the prostate, 
and of the ejaculator canals; the second portion is 
from 11 to 13 lines in length, it does not repose on 
any organ, and is consequently called the membra- 
nous portion; finally, the third part a'bout six 



SECRETIONS. 121 

inches long, is surrounded by an erectile tissue, and 
receives the name of spongy; it forms a part of the 
penis. 

Function. 1st, Secretion. We are no better ac- 
quainted with the mechanism of the secretion of 
urine, than that of the preceding secretions. The 
kidneys are evidently the secretory organs. In order 
to prove this fact, Galen tied up several times the 
ureters of divers living animals, and every instance he 
observed the urine to accumulate above the ligature 
and the bladder to remain empty. It was generally 
admitted that the secretion was produced in the 
cortical substance; in fact, it is within this part that 
we observe an infinity of emulgent vessels to rami- 
fy; their communications are very numerous, and in 
such a manner that injections pass from one to the 
other, and even into the excretory radicles. 

From this glandular substance the urine passes 
directly into the tubular conduits of Bellini; it oozes 
out from the summit of the pyramid into the calice, 
hence it is carried into the pelvis, and afterwards is 
transmitted by the ureter into the bladder. In this 
long passage that it makes, influenced by its own 
weight, the continuity of the secretion, the contrac- 
tility of the canals, and the movements of respira- 
tion, the urine successively experiences modifica- 
tions, it is in a measure clarified; it was at first when 
issuing from the web of the kidneys troubled and 
whitish, it becomes limpid, or of a light yellow, in 
proportion as it approaches its reservoir. 

2d. Accumulation in the Bladder. The urine 
collects in the bladder and distends it gradually; and 
although the pressure is made on all sides, its en- 
largement is principally made from below upwards; 
the lower fundus presses on the rectum in man, or 
11 



1,2,2 SECRETIONS. 

on the vagina in woman; above, it rises over the 
pubis; it stretches and raises the peritoneum; it may 
even ascend as high as the navel, when the disten- 
tion is very great. 

It has often been asked how the urine could pro- 
duce so considerable an effort in order to accumulate 
in so great a quantity. Formerly, it was believed, 
that it followed the law of liquids, the pressure of 
which is in the ratio of the height of the column 
multiplied by the base; but this explanation is una- 
vailing when we know that in the ureter, the urine 
does not form a continuous stream; that if we con- 
sider that the uretus take a very oblique course in 
the parietes of the bladder, we shall readily conceive 
that these canals must be the more flattened and 
compressed, the more the reservoir is distended, 
and that afterwards the reflux becomes the more 
difficult. On the other hand the contraction of the 
sphincter of the neck, the angle formed by the ure- 
thra and the bladder, and the natural construction 
of the parietes of this canal, which are pressed from 
below upwards by the anterior fibres of the levator 
ani, are the causes which prevent the escape of 
the urine. 

The time which the urine may remain in the 
bladder is variable. 1, According to its quantity and 
nature, 2, according to the ages and sexes, 3, final- 
ly, according to the healthy or morbid state of this 
excretory apparatus. The object of nature is evi- 
dent as to the reason why the urine remains any 
time collecting in the bladder; it is to prevent the 
disgusting inconvenience of passing our urine at 
every moment. 

3. Excretion. After having remained for some 
time in the bladder, the urine concentrates or thick- 
ens, its more aqueous particles are absorbed, it be- 



SECRETIONS. 123 

comes in the mean time more irritating, it stimu- 
lates the bladder, and a peculiar want, very distinct 
in its object, is felt, ordinarily designated the want 
of urinating. It is one of those special internal 
sensations which are attended with pleasure or pain, 
accordingly as we satisfy or resist it. 

In order to expel the urine, when warned by this 
sensation, the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, 
simultaneously contract, which pressure causes the 
bladder to act; this organ immediately contracts, its 
sphincter and the levator ani and accelerator urinae 
relax. The urine, thus compressed on all sides, 
surmounts the resistance of the neck, traverses the 
whole urethra, and is darted at a greater distance 
in proportion as the contractions are more power- 
ful; its jet is still accelerated by the synergic action 
of the parietes of the excretory canal and accelerator 
urinae. Commonly, as soon as the urine has sur- 
mounted the obstacles, the combined muscles relax, 
and the bladder only contracts to propel the urine 
forward; finally, when we wish to squeeze out the 
last drops of urine, the levator ani contracts in order 
to raise the lower fundus of the bladder above the 
neck; and in order to afford an inclined plane to the 
liquid. After the excretion, the bladder resumes 
its position behind the pubis. 

I have remarked that the action of the bladder is 
solicited by the pressure of the abdominal muscles; 
this is what happens commonly, but I did not pre- 
tend to say that it was independent of volition; it is 
obvious that we may urinate at pleasure without the 
least participation of the congregated muscles; para- 
lysis of the bladder positively proves that these latter 
are insufficient to produce the urinary excretion. 

Struck with the rapidity with which the liquids 



124 SECRETIONS. 

introduced into the stomach are passed by urine, 
the ancients supposed that there existed ducts be- 
tween the stomach and bladder: Chirac presumed 
that he had observed this reservoir to fill up with 
urine after a ligature in the ureter, which is very 
doubtful; on the other hand, Darwin induced one of 
his friends to take nitrate of potass, and he found 
this salt in the urine without discovering; the least 
particle of it in the blood. Brand made the same ob- 
servation on hydrocyanate of potass; but recently, 
M. Fodcra was more successful. In repeating 
the experiments of Brande he discovered the salt in 
the urine and in the blood: thus this especial pas- 
sage of the urine does not exist. 

Haller thought, that the fluids before forming the 
urine were obliged to pass through the long rout of 
the lymphatics; but he explained the rapidity of 
the urinary excretion, in declaring that a thousand 
ounces of blood pass through the kidneys in the 
space of an hour; and by supposing that they con- 
tained only one tenth of urine, there would result a 
secretion of one hundred ounces, (6^1bs.) per hour. 
M. Magendie believes that the veins absorb the 
liquids, and transmit them immediately to the arte- 
ries, hence he deduces the rapidity of the urinary 
secretion. 

Lastly, other physiologists presume that if the 
urine is evacuated immediately after the ingestion 
of drinks, the cause lies in the distention of the 
stomach, which presses on the abdominal viscera 
and bladder; but this hypothesis no way explains 
why the quantity of the urine is increased. 

Urine, considered in itself, is a transparent liquid, 
the colour of which varies from a light amber to a 
deep orange, of a saltish and acid taste, of a peculiar 



SECRETIONS. 125 

odour, which becomes pungent, ammoniacal when 
exposed to the air, of a specific gravity greater than 
that of water; it reddens a tincture of sun-flower; it 
contains, according to M. Berzelius, water, urea, 
sulphate of potass, and sulphate of soda, phosphate 
of soda and phosphate of ammonia, hydro-chlorate 
of soda and of ammonia, lactic acid, acetate of am- 
monia, an animal matter, soluble in alcohol, and 
another which is insoluble, an earthy phosphate 
with a small quantity of lime, uric acid, silex, and 
mucus produced by the bladder. 

Three kinds of urine are distinguished: 1, The 
urine of liquids, is clear, transparent, almost co- 
lourless; 2, the urine of chyle, which appears in 
three or four hours after meals; 3, finally, the urine 
of blood, which is passed in the morning, is the most 
perfect; it is that which serves as a type for its phy- 
sical and chymical properties. 

The urinary secretion, together with all the ex- 
crementitious secretions, produce the depuration of 
the blood, and for the same reason concur in the 
organic decomposition; it cleanses the nutritive fluid 
of the materials which are no longer fit for nutrition, 
or those which are too foreign to our nature, in or- 
der to be assimilated; urine, the ancients used to 
say, is a kind of lixivium, which carries off the im- 
purities of the animal economy, 

article 4. 

Mechanism of the Secretions generally. 

We have already observed the arterial or venous 
blood in all the secretory organs; we have also re- 
marked that there issued from them a new pro- 
duct; by what mechanism has this singular conver- 
11* 



126 SECRETIONS. 

sion been produced? On the one hand, it seems that 
the blood preserves all its properties until it reaches 
the capillary extremities of the sanguineous system; 
on the other, we observe the secreted humour even 
in the finest radicles of the excretory vessels. It is 
then at the point where these two kinds of vessels 
meet, that the secretion occurs; but by virtue of 
what law? 

1. Physical theories. The opinion of the gra- 
dual diminution of the vessels in fit proportion to the 
different sanguine globules, together with the idea 
that all the humours exist primitively in the blood, 
has led to the consideration that the diverse secre- 
tions are mechanical filtrations. This was nearly the 
opinion entertained by Boerhaave, Malpighi, Hal- 
ter, &c. 

Hamberger presumes that all the humours arc 
deposited in their secretory organs by virtue of their 
specific gravity. Other physiologists compare the 
secretory vessels, to a roll of cotton which, when 
plunged into a mixture, would only attract the fluid 
which it previously imbibed. 

Lately, M. Fodera was led, in a series of experi- 
ments, to consider exhalation as a simple transuda- 
tion, and absorption as an action of imbibition, and 
to conclude that these two phenomena are entirely 
dependent on the capillarity of the tissues. He 
asks if it would be possible to extend this explana- 
tion to the follicular and glandular secretions? but 
here he has had the good sense to stop and to remain 
in a philosophical doubt on this subject. 

It is evident that these different physical theories 
of the secretions rest on the same foundation; in ef- 
fect, all suppose that the humours exist primitively 
formed in the blood, and this proposition is not far 



SECRETIONS. 127 

from being demonstrated by the following expert 
ments; Messrs. Dumas and Prevost have found 
urea in the blood of animals from which they had 
extracted the kidneys; they have found sugar of 
milk, after the amputation of the mammss; finally, 
have been able to produce artificial fecundations with 
the blood of toads which they had previously cas- 
trated. Moreover, it is well known that in Paris 
M. Chevreuil has demonstrated fat to exist in the 
blood, and that the experiments of Messrs. Dumas 
and Pr&vost, on the extirpation of the kidneys, have 
been repeated successfully by M. Segalas. 

Chymical theories. Some ancient physiologists 
have admitted in our secretory organs a peculiar 
leven, by virtue of which, the blood is converted 
into a new fluid. M. Berzelius explains secretions 
by an electric influence. Messrs. Pr6vost and Du- 
mas presume that the secreted humours are the re- 
sult of a galvanic power produced by the sanguine 
globules; that they represent as many galvanic plates 
in a state of action; the observations of M. Fodera, 
who has remarked the transudations excited by a 
stream of electricity, favours their opinion. 

Vital theory. Most modern physiologists, dis- 
satisfied with the preceding hypotheses, have con- 
sidered secretions as actions proper to the secretory 
organs by which the arterial blood is elaborated in a 
special manner, and converted into a new humour. 
This opinion originated with Bordeu: he conceived 
in every secretory organ a kind of digestive action: 
but this peculiar organic and vital elaboration, is un- 
known in its nature, so that we are now still further 
removed from the question. This is asubtle explana- 
tion, which tends to suppress all ulterior researches 
of which the science stands in so much need, in order 
to discover the true mechanism of secretions. 



128 INNERVATION. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



INFLUENCE OF INNERVATION ON THE ORGANIC 
FUNCTIONS. 

We shall treat in a special manner the functions 
of the nervous system, in the article of the func- 
tions of relation; but I believe it will not be ^miss 
to enter previously, into some considerations about 
the peculiar influence this system exercises over the 
functions which we have already considered. 

In effect, the nerves extend their influence on the 
organic functions, and this special power, very dis- 
tinct from all nervous action, has received the ge- 
neric designation of innervation. Is it not by the 
suspension of this influence that we observe the in- 
terruption and even the destruction of the respiratory 
and digestive functions whenever the pneumo-gas- 
tric nerve is divided? Is it not by the same cause 
that Le Gallois suspended the action of the heart in 
his interesting experiments on the spinal marrow? 
Is it not by the suspension of this influence that M. 
Beclard stopped some secretions by dividing the 
nerves of their organs? Is it not by this same sus- 
pension that Messrs. Brodie and Chossat have ob- 
served calorification to be extinguished? Is it not 
finally, owing to the interruption of nervous influ- 
ence that Messrs. Dupuy, Dupnytren and Breschet 
have caused horses to die by extirpating the nervous 
ganglia of the neck? 



INNERVATION. 129 

But does innervation uniformly extend its influ- 
ence on all the organic functions? or is it confined 
simply to some of them? Some physiologists presume 
that it gradually lessens in the inferior functions, 
and that it even disappears in absorption and assi- 
milation; and they argue principally from the ana- 
logy of the nutrition of vegetables: but, first of all, 
this analogy is too far fetched; then is it very certain 
that the nervous system is entirely wanting in this 
class of organized beings? We have, on the contra- 
ry, already observed that Haller, LimidenS, and 
Bracket, considered as such, the central marrow or 
pith, together with its diverging rays, and that M. 
Dutrochet had discovered true nervous ganglia in 
several vegetables. 

On the contrary, most modern physiologists think 
that innervation presides over all the organic func- 
tions; they only add that in the same degree as we 
examine the more concealed actions, its influence 
becomes more and more independent of the nervous 
centre. According to them, the nervous system is 
the first and main spring of our economy; this system 
is the causing or conducting agent of the principle of 
life; it pre-exists even to organization, according to 
Messrs. Dumas and Prevost, who have found the 
rudiments of it in the spermatic animalcules. 

Authors do not generally agree on the nerves, the 
functions of which are to impart innervation. Some 
think that all the nerves equally concur in it; 
others, Bichat, Reil, Messrs. Gall, Broussais, &c. 
suppose, with more reason, that this important func- 
tion is the attribute of the parvagum and the sympa- 
thetic nerve. On the one hand, the former is a 
cerebral nerve; it animates the three principal or- 
ganic functions, digestion, respiration and circula- 



130 INNERVATION. 

tion, and it is from this important nerve that they 
derive their pre-eminence; on the other hand, the 
sympathetic penetrates with the blood vessels into 
the parenchyma of every organ; it is very distinct 
from all the other nerves; it has been observed to be 
nearly insensible to every kind of irritation: indeed 
this is the character of most of our organic functions 
to which it is specially distributed; they are perform- 
ed clandestinely without our knowledge or the least 
consciousness. On the other hand, according to *dc- 
kermann, this nerve is the first developed in the foe- 
tus; it exists in all anencephali, therefore, it imme- 
diately accomplishes the purposes of vegetable or 
organic life. According to Beclard, its ganglia are 
destined to arrest the influence of the nervous centres 
on the organs of organic functions, and to intercept 
the transmission of their impression; so that they di- 
vide the vegetative functions from the functions of 
relation ; moreover, they concentrate the nervous in- 
fluence that they either develop, or borrow from the 
spinal marrow, to distribute it afterwards to the or- 
gans which they hold under their dependence. 

Thus the organic nervous influx comes, on the 
one hand, from the encephalon through the pneumo- 
gastric nerves, and on the other from the splanchnic 
ganglia, which probably draw theirs also from the 
spinal marrow. Of what does this nervous influx 
consist? is a question about which we must confess 
our entire ignorance; a great number of facts tend 
to establish its analogy with the galvanic fluid. 
1st, Wilson Philip, has restored digestion, calori- 
fication, and secretions, by a galvanic stream, after 
dividing the nerves. 2d, The nervous fluid itself 
develops the galvanic fluid; thus Mdini has pro- 
duced musculo contractions by causing the nerve 



INNERVATION. 131 

to communicate with the muscle through a metallic 
circle; M. De Humboldt has even remarked that it 
was sufficient to approach one of the poles at the 
distance of a line, from the muscle, to cause it to 
contract. 3d, When the nerves are divided so as to 
arrest the nervous influx, this latter continues to 
flow, if the two extremities are not too far from 
each other, and this happens, without doubt, through 
influence, as it occurs in the electric fluid. Next 
follow the experiments performed by Pr&vost and 
Dumas on muscular contractility, that they repre* 
sent as an electric phenomenon, &c. 



132 SENSATION?. 



FIRST CLASS. 

SECOND ORDER. 

FUNCTIONS OP RELATION. 

The functions of relation warn man of his own 
existence; they establish between him and the whole 
universe the relations best calculated for his pre- 
servation; they are four in number: the function of 
sensations, that of the intellectual or moral actions, 
that of voluntary movements, and that of expres- 
sions. 

CHAPTER I. 

OP SENSATIONS. 
ARTICLE 1. 

Of Sensations generally. 

To sensations we are indebted for the knowledge of 
ourselves; they also positively instruct us of the ex- 
istence of the bodies which surround us, they pre- 
side over our preservation, by causing us to shun 
dangers, and in warning us of the w T ants of our 
economy; they also invite us to live in society; sen- 
sations, finally, solicit the connexion of the sexes, 
and consequently, preside over the preservation or 
perpetuity of the species. 



SENSATIONS. 1S3 

Sensations are induced under the influence of a 
certain irritation; but this irritation sometimes re- 
sults from the application of external bodies, or the 
particles which arise from them on our surface; at 
others, on the contrary, they arise from an internal 
modification of the deep seated organs, hence ne- 
cessarily the distinction between external and inter- 
nal sensations. 

Whatever may be this difference, however, as to 
the source of impression, the mechanism of the sen- 
sations is the same for all. Some physiologists, at 
the head of whom we find M. Gall, think that they 
are entirely produced in the organs to which we 
refer them; nevertheless it is more generally admit- 
ted that they require the interference of the brain; 
we think, also, with the greater number of authors, 
that the sensible parts experience only impressions 
which are transmitted to the brain, and that it is. 
this organ only which decides the impression. 

Relatively to the action of impression, Haller, 
Zimmermann, Bordenave y Honsset, &c, presume 
that there exist in the body some insensible parts, 
and consequently not fit for this action: other phy- 
siologists deny this position; what is certain is, that 
all the parts may develop morbid sensations. But by 
what mechanism is the impression conveyed to the 
brain? Here observation stops, and by turns the cir- 
culation of the animal spirits, of the nervous fluid, 
of the vibration of the nerves, &c, have been con- 
jured up; but all these hypotheses are now generally 
abandoned as untenable. Has the electric fluid any 
part in the production of this phenomenon? This 
conjecture assumes the semblance of a reality, if we 
recall to mind, that in the article of innervation we 
have related a multitude of facts, which establish a 
12 



134 SENSATIONS. 

great analogy between the nervous and galvanic 
fluids. Finally, in what does consist the perceiv- 
ing action of the brain? we must again answer, that 
we are, concerning it, in a profound ignorance. 

article 2. 
Organs of Sensations. 

The nervous system is the organ of all the sensa- 
tions; it is the instrument by virtue of which man 
perceives impressions, and experiences sensations; 
it is therefore indispensable that we should have a 
general idea of it before treating of the sensations 
in particular. This apparatus is composed of the 
encephalon, of the spinal marrow, of the nerves, 
and of the sympathetic. We shall postpone the 
description of the brain, until we arrive at the arti- 
cle of the intellectual and moral functions. 

1. Of the Spinal Marrow. It is a cylindroid 
chord, extended from the occipital foramen down 
to the last lorn bar vertibra. Its shape is regularly 
symmetrical; its thickness varies at the different 
points of its extent; at first enlarged at its origin, it 
becomes narrow, and immediately after presents a 
new enlargement in the cervical region; finally, it 
terminates on the inferior part, by an oval tubercle; 
before and behind it presents a median furrow, 
which seems to divide it from the top to the bottom 
into two perfectly similar portions; just under each 
of these fissures we meet with a layer of whitish 
substance, which crosses the two lateral halves ac- 
cording to Soemmering, who establishes only their 
continuity after Gall. On either side of the two 
median fissures, we observe collateral ridges through 
which issue the roots of the vertebral nerves; finally, 



SENSATIONS. 135 

on the sides of the spinal marrow we meet with 
thirty pairs of nerves, and the ligamentum denticu- 
latum which divides their origin. The spinal chord 
is formed on its exterior by a white substance, with- 
in by a grayish matter arranged into two latteral 
crescent-like forms united by a middle commissure. 
Lastly, the spinal marrow, like the brain, has a bony 
canal resulting from the union of twenty-four verti- 
brae, and three membranes, the duramater, the 
arachnoid, and the pia mater, or proper membrane. 
2. The Nerves are chords formed by medullary 
filaments extending from the encephalon, or the 
spinal marrow, to the parenchyma of all the organs. 
They issue from the bony cavities by symmetrical 
pairs, then they successively subdivide from branch- 
es into filaments, which frequently communicate 
with each other through a simple anastomosis, plex- 
us, or ganglia; so that the whole mass of this system 
presents a net work extending into every part of 
the body.* When the nerves have reached their 
last ramifications, they quit their neurilema, but we 
do not know in what manner they terminate. Some 
anatomists think that they are in a manner melted 
into the organs, and identify themselves with the 
latter; others, that they spread into membranes, as 
it appears in some of the senses. Finally, some 

* Doctor Horner, adjunct professor of anatomy in the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, in his lectures on the nervous system, 
particularly inculcates that the nervous substance is every 
where diffused in the human body; and that even the parts in 
which the knife of the anatomist has not been able to trace, or 
discover any nerve, there exists a nervous expansion similar to 
a very fine gauze, or a thin gold leaf. Comparing in this man- 
ner, the expansion of the nervous substance, to the very great 
expansibility of gold. tbajts. 



136 SENSATIONS. 

presume that they form papillae in every part. 
Nerves are formed with filaments of medullary sub- 
stance, contained in as many small cellular sheaths, 
and united by a general envelope called neurilema. 

3. The Sympathetic is a long, nervous and gan- 
glionic chord, extending on both sides of the spine, 
from the head to the pelvis, communicating by an- 
astomosing branches with all the spinal nerves and 
with some cerebral nerves, and furnishing numerous 
filaments which accompany the arteries, and are dis- 
tributed, together with the latter, in the organs of 
involuntary functions. This trisplanchnic nerve be- 
gins by a gangliform plexus in the carotid canal, 
and the cavernous sinus; from this point it sends an- 
astomosing filaments to the sixth pair, to the vidian 
nerve, and to the fifth pair, by means of which it 
communicates with the opthalmic ganglion. On the 
other side it descends on the spinal column, then it 
consists of three cervical ganglia, twelve thoracic, 
five lumbar, four sacral, and sometimes a coccygian; 
these ganglia send to each other anastomosing fila- 
ments. 

Such is the nervous system as a whole; we have 
not entered into any details; it was sufficient to give 
a general idea of it, to recall to mind its principal 
characters, in order to be able to study its functions. 
It is not in a physiological work that we can expect 
to find minute anatomical descriptions. 

The nervous system, as we have already observ- 
ed, is a continuous whole, anatomically speaking; 
but are its different parts independent, or have they 
a common centre? Secondly, are they intrusted with 
the same functions, or each with different functions? 

1. It seems to be well demonstrated, at least in 
man, that the nervous system is subordinate toacen- 



SENSATIONS, 137 

tre; some place it in the brain, others in the spinal 
marrow; however, if we consult the most peremp- 
tory experiments, it is to the point of union of these 
two parts, i. e. the medulla oblongata, that we are 
induced to grant the pre-eminence. 

2. As to the second proposition, the nervous sys- 
tem forms, it is true, one entire system, all the parts 
of which concur to the immense function of innerva- 
tion; but we must not conclude for this reason, that 
each of its parts does not enjoy its own peculiar ac- 
tion. This is, however, an opinion which has always 
been advocated, even to the present period; hereto- 
fore combated by Galen and Willis, was very much 
shaken by Bichat, and overturned by M. Gall. This 
latter divides the nervous apparatus, 1st, into the tho- 
racic and abdominal nervous system, the sympa- 
thetic nerve; 2d, The nervous system of the volun- 
tary movements and tactile sensations, the spinal 
marrow; 3d, Nervous system of the senses, the me- 
dulla oblongata; 4th, Finally, into a system of the 
faculties of the mind, the cerebrum and cerebellum. 
Since this division many experiments have been un- 
dertaken to determine, in a more precise manner, the 
use of each part of the nervous apparatus. The fol- 
lowing are, in a few words, the results of the most 
remarkable labours on this important subject. M. 
Rodolan thinks that the brain sends, through the 
cerebellum, the principle of motion to the muscles. 
M. Flourens observes, that the spinal marrow, on 
a level with the corpora quadrigemina, is the point 
in which the sensations arrive, and whence the prin- 
ciples of motion arise, of which the cerebellum is the 
regulator. M. Magendie presumes that it is from 
the highest part of the spinal marrow in the crani- 
um that the faculty of movements springs; that the 
12* 



138 SENSATIONS. 

cerebellum produces the movements backwards, and 
the cerebral hemispheres the forward movements; 
he adds, that the anterior branches of the rachidian 
nerves are destined to voluntary movements, and 
that the posterior branches preside over general sen- 
sibility. Messrs. Fovilleand Plnel Grandchamps fix 
the seat of sensibility in the cerebellum, that of vol- 
untary movements in the central substance of the 
cerebral hemispheres, and that of intelligence in the 
cortical substance. M. Ch: Bell has also made some 
experiments on the uses of some particular nerves: 
lie has observed that the facial nerve presides over 
the movements of the expression of the face, and 
that the maxillary or trigeminus nerve was the nerve 
of sensibility of this part, and had under its control 
the movements of mastication. M. de Blainville, 
who also professes the plurality of the nervous sys- 
tem, remarks, that this apparatus is the result of a se- 
ries of ganglia, or central parts, each presiding over 
peculiar functions; he adds that all these ganglia are 
situated on the sides, or at the extremtiies of the 
common centre, which he believes to be the spinal 
marrow. M. Bellingeri has lately tried to demon- 
strate by experiments, that the cerebrum held un- 
der its dependence the movements of extension of 
the limbs, and the cerebellum those of flexion. M. 
Boitillaiid presumes that the anterior part of the 
cerebral hemispheres presides over the spoken lan- 
guage or language of sounds. M. Fovilie, on the 
contrary, has seated this faculty in the cornu ammo- 
nis. 

Such are the principal opinions of modern physi- 
ologists on the use of the different parts of the nerv- 
ous system; we have been able to remark, whilst 
treating of them, how different their opinions are, 



SENSATIONS. 139 

and even how much they contradict each other; thus 
in the midst of contention, the question attacked on 
all sides, remains as yet unsolved. Nevertheless, I 
can not help saying in this place that the results ob- 
tained by my ancient colleagues, Messrs. Foville and 
Pinel Grandchamps, are those which I have found 
most unobjectionable and consonant to reason in my 
private researches. 

article 3. 

Senses of Feeling and of Touch. 

All the parts of our surface are formed in such a 
manner as to receive the contact of exterior bodies; 
but one of them is particularly organized in order 
to instruct us of their general qualities; it is the 
instrument of an active feeling, or what is called 
touching. 

1. Organs of feeling or tact, and of touching. 
The skin is a membrane which forms a general en- 
velope, and which is continued into the internal 
organs on the margin of the natural openings; it ad- 
heres to the parts which it covers, generally, in a 
loose manner; however, in some parts the cellular 
tissue, which unites it to the deeper seated parts, 
possesses an extreme density; it is sometimes liga- 
mentous; finally, in other places the skin is lined 
with a muscular layer which communicates motion 
to it. The exterior surface of this membrane is 
smooth: it presents, 1, wrinkles, 2, small papillary 
ridges, 3, the hair, 4, small openings which are the 
orifices of its follicles. 

In the organization of the skin we meet with, 
when examined from within, outwards, 1, the cutis, 
or fibro-cellular layer, which imparts to it thickness 



140 SENSATIONS. 

and solidity, in which are ramified the sanguineous 
and lymphatic vessels and the nerves, to reach after- 
wards to its surface where they form that which is 
by Malpighi called the papillary bodies, or the san- 
guineous buds of Gautier; then we have a second 
membrane, which results from the union of the nerv- 
ous extremities and the vessels, and the surface of 
which offers a multitude of small papillary erectile 
projections; it is covered over by a new layer, to 
which Malpighi has given the name of mucous 
body; very thin over the summit of the papilli, much 
thicker in their intervals, they are neither vascular 
nor nervous; it is a kind of humid varnish which 
contains the pigmentum of the skin. Its existence 
was denied by Bichat, Gordon, Chaussier, &c; 
other anatomists, on the contrary, consider this 
membrane, which is in itself very thin, composed of 
several layers in close contact; Gautier, for example, 
demonstrates three of them; one white, deep seated; 
one coloured, and a third white, superficial. 2, 
Finally, the epidermis is the most external layer of 
the skin; it is an inorganic membrane which, ac- 
cording to some anatomists, is the product of the 
coagulation of an albuminous juice; according to 
others, it is formed by scales lapping over each other; 
according to M. de Blainville, it is a horny matter 
secreted on the surface of the skin. Lastly, we also 
meet with, in the organization of the skin, sebaceous 
follicles, the hairs, the description of which would 
be out of place here. 

The mucous membranes are, like the skin, the 
seat of tactile impressions; however, their organi- 
zation is the same, but a layer of mucus, called 
epichorion, is commonly substituted for the epi- 
dermis. 



SENSATIONS. 141 

The hand is the organ of touch, situated at the 
extremity of a very moveable lever, it unites in its 
structure, a very great sensibility to an astonishing 
mobility; its frame is formed by 21 bones, arrang- 
ed into three flexible parts playing on each other, 
the carpus or wrist, the metacarpus, which forms the 
hollow of the hand, finally, the fingers, which are 
five in number, in which we distinguish several 
flexions. A multitude of muscles are destined to 
give to all those parts general or particular move- 
ments very multiplied. Finally, a very delicate 
skin, and closely united to the subjacent parts, co- 
vers the hand; the nervous papillae are very much 
developed here, particularly at the extremity of the 
fingers, where they are supported by a spongy tis- 
sue that some physiologists consider to be erectile; 
the nails, situated hehindj are destined to support the 
soft part of the finger. 

2. Mechanism of feeling and of touch. The 
mechanism of the sense of feeling is very simple; 
the skin, which is its organ, is continually ex- 
posed to the contact of exterior bodies, consequent- 
ly it must always produce impressions. Feeling or 
tact occurs without our being able to detect the least 
change, the least action in the organ which is its 
instrument; of course we do not know precise- 
ly in what it consists; every thing tends to prove 
that the papillae are the seat of the impression, and 
that the epidermis moderates its action: Tact ena- 
bles us to appreciate weight, consistency, move- 
ment, extent, and above all, the temperature of 
bodies. In effect, it is tact only which causes us to 
experience the sensations of heat and cold; but the 
judgment which we make of these two qualities of 
bodies is not in just proportion, as we might be led 



142 SENSATIONS. 

to think, with the quantity of caloric that they yield 
to or take away from us, because we always com- 
pare their temperature to that of the medium in 
which we live, and to which our body is habituated; 
so that a body, for example, seems to us warm be- 
cause its temperature is higher than that of the at- 
mosphere, although, it is below ours. The mucous 
membranes are also the seat of tactile impression, 
but only at their origin; the exquisite sensibility of 
the lips, vagina, &c. are well known. 

Touch is nothing else than active feeling, or 
which is exercised by a special organ, organized in 
such a manner as to be able to run over the surface 
of bodies and to adapt itself to their form. We have 
already remarked, that in the hand we find united 
all the circumstances the most advantageous for this 
function. In every age philosophers have admired 
its organization; they have even ascribed to it the 
superiority of man over all the other animals; Galen 
used to say, it is the instrument of instruments. 
As to the mechanism of touch, it is the same as that 
of feeling, the impression is developed in the same 
manner, but it is more perfect, because the contact 
itself is more perfect. 

Candillac and Buffon give to the sense of touch 
a great pre-eminence over the others; some philo- 
sophers, because of its precision, give to it the 
name of geometric sense; others call it the regulator 
of the senses, &c; but in reality it possesses no su- 
periority over the others as was clearly demonstrat- 
ed by M. Destutt-Tracy. We can not deny that 
it serves materially the intelligence, but this is also 
the case with the other senses. Touch is capable 
of an astonishing degree of perfection by practice; 



SENSATIONS. 143 

we have known blind persons to execute with their 
fingers some of the nicest works. 

There are two peculiar sensations that I shall 
mention here, connected with the history of touch, 
because they are mostly owing to the contact of a 
foreign body with the skin, or the origin of the mu- 
cous membrane; one is itching, the other is tickling. 
The former, it is true, may be owing to an internal 
cause, but more frequently it is induced by the same 
conditions as the tact or touch, they both require a 
slight contact and exercised unexpectedly. 

ARTICLE 4. 

Sense of Taste. 

This is the sense which enables us to decide on 
the flavour of bodies. 

1. Flavour. This name is given both to the im- 
pression produced by sapid bodies, and to the in- 
tegrant molecules of a body which induces the sen- 
sation; it is under the latter aspect that we shall 
examine it here. 

We are entirely ignorant to which condition the 
integrant molecules of bodies owe their sapidity; 
sometimes geometrical forms have been ascribed to 
them in order to account for the variety of flavours: 
some have said, for example, that a round form 
produced the sensation of sweetness, that the pun- 
gent taste was the result of an angular form &c. 
Now the taste of bodies is pretty generally referred 
to the chymical nature of their molecules. 

From the extreme multiplicity of flavours, a num- 
ber which varies still more, because they do not 
produce the same impression in all individuals, it is 
easy to conceive how very difficult, and next to im- 



144 SENSATIONS. 

possible, a classification, that should embrace their 
totality would be. Nevertheless, we may divide 
them for each individual, into agreeable, disagreea- 
ble, and mixed. 

2. Organs of Taste. The tongue is its principal 
organ. The lips and all the other parts of the mouth, 
the pharynx, and even the stomach, seem suscepti- 
ble of receiving a slight impression from the con- 
tact of sapid bodies; these parts have even sufficed, 
in some cases, to re-establish taste in individuals who 
had lost the organ. Ruisch admitted a papillary 
apparatus. 

The tongue is a muscular body, having the form 
of a cone flattened from above downwards, situated 
in the mouth, which it almost fills up; it adheres to 
the inferior part of this cavity by a part of its in- 
ferior surface, and to the os hyoideus by its base, 
whilst the remainder of its body is perfectly free; 
this organ presents, in its organization, some mus- 
cles which form its body, and a membrane which 
covers them, and which is destined to receive the 
impression of sapidity. 

The muscles are, 1, Extrinsic: the genio-glossus, 
the mylo-glossus, the hyo-glossus, and the stilo- 
glossus; they move the whole tongue. 2, Intrinsic: 
they form the tongue properly so called, and move 
it partially; heretofore the lingual only was known. 
M. Gerdy has discovered in it a superficial, a trans- 
versal, and a vertical lingual, some oblique lingual and 
a yellowish elastic tissue, which occupies the base. M. 
Blandin has found in the median line of the tongue, 
a thin plate of fibro-cartilaginous substance, on which 
the transverse muscles are fixed, and which he con- 
siders as a lingual prolongation of the os hyoideus. 
The membrane which forms the envelope of the 



SENSATIONS. 145 

tongue, is an extension of the skin, which is modi- 
fied in a proper manner to become the seat of a spe- 
cial sense, taste, on the superior surface of this or- 
gan. The papillae are very much developed here; 
it is pretty generally believed that they result from 
the last ramifications of the lingual nerve, surround- 
ed by an erectile spongy tissue, and to which they 
owe the property of projecting out, and of entering 
into a kind of erection; they are distinguished ac- 
cording to their forms, into pyramidal, fungiform, 
and filiform. 

3. Mechanism of Taste. It is the sense which 
most resembles touch, by the simplicity of its me- 
chanism; it consists of the following actions: the 
tongue is carried on the sapid bodies, or what is more 
ordinary, these latter are carried over the tongue in 
the interior of the mouth; soon after, the juices which 
flow into this cavity, swell the sapid integrant mole- 
cules, and brings them in contact with the nervous 
papillae; from this moment the action of the impres- 
sion commences, and is transmitted to the brain 
through the medium of the lingual nerve. On this 
point, however, some controversy exists; Boer, 
haave presumes that it is through the hypoglossus 
that this sensation is transmitted; M. de Blainville 
observes, that it is very probable that the three 
nerves of the tongue equally concur to produce this 
result. Nevertheless, most modern physiologists 
think, with Haller, that the lingual nerve is the 
only one proper to develop the sensation of taste. 
M. Richerand has obviously recognized, by means 
of galvanism, that it produced less motion than the 
others. 

There are certain sapid bodies which produce an 
13 



146 SENSATIONS. 

impression which are more or less lasting; it consti- 
tutes what is called after taste. 

This sense, which is located at the entrance of the 
apparatus of digestion, serves more to nutrition than 
to intelligence; it is entirely dependent on our will, 
and many acquire a great degree of perfection. 

article 5. 
Of the sense of Smell. 

Olfaction, or the olfactory sense, is destined to 
give us a knowledge of odours. 

1. Odours. This name is given to the most mi- 
nute particles which exhale from odorous bodies, 
and which produce this sensation designated smell- 
ing. Before Fourcroy and Bert ho let, it was be- 
lieved that odours existed independently of all the 
substances which enter into the composition of bo- 
dies. These natural philosophers have demon- 
strated in a positive manner that odours are nothing 
else than the molecules themselves of the odorous 
bodies, which are dissolved and suspended in the 
air, after being volatilized by caloric. 

Odours are diffused around the bodies from which 
they emanate, and decrease in strength as they are 
further removed from them; they do not follow any 
determined direction, they obey entirely the course 
of the atmosphere; there are some, the expansibility 
of which is very great, and which are carried to as- 
tonishing distances: the odour of cinnamon, for in- 
stance, which, according to Boyle, announces the 
island of Ceylon while yet twenty-five miles distant 
at sea. Odours, already very much multiplied, vary 
still more according to individuals, so that it is im- 
possible to form a perfect classification of them ; we 



SENSATIONS. 147 

can only, according to the sensations which they 
produce, divide them into agreeable and disagreea- 
ble. Haller admits a third kind, which compre- 
hends mixed odours. 

2. Organ of Smell. It comprehends, 1st, a great 
paralellipiped cavity (called nasalpassages), hollow- 
ed in the thickness of the face below the forehead, and 
above the mouth; it is divided into two lateral and 
symmetrical halves by a middle partition; each of 
them, which has also received separately the name 
of nasal passages, presents a superior concave wall 
formed by* the bones of the nose, the cribriform 
bone, and the body of the sphenoid; an inferior wall 
inclined backwards, formed by the palatine portion 
of the maxillary and palatine bones; an internal 
partition, formed by the vomer and the perpendicu- 
lar plate of the ethmoid; anfractuous, external pa- 
rietes, inclined inwardly and formed by the os un- 
guis, superior maxillary, palatine, the inferior spon- 
gy bone and ethmoid; it presents from above down- 
wards, three spongy bones, separated from each 
other by as many meati. 

The nasal fossae extend considerably into the 
neighbouring bones by secondary excavations called 
frontal ethmoidal, sphenoidal and maxillary sinuses. 
The nasal passages open posteriorly into the pharynx, 
anteriorly they terminate on the exterior by a pro- 
longation in the form of a triangular pyramid, which 
occupies the middle of the face, and called nose. 

2. The olfactory membrane is a mucous mem- 
brane; it lines the nasal passages, and is reflected in 
the sinuses and meati; this membrane receives a 
profusion of vessels and nerves; it abundantly se- 
cretes mucus, which preserves its surface in a state 
©f humidity useful to olfaction. 3d, Lastly, the ol„ 



148 SENSATIONS. 

factory nerve; it is the special organ of the sense of 
smelling: it arises, according to Gall and JBSclard, 
from the medulla oblongata; it extends hence, by 
passing under the anterior lobe of the brain, where 
it is distinctly seen to go to the cribriform plate, in 
the holes of which it penetrates by as many fila- 
ments, ramifying into the pituitary membrane, par- 
ticularly at its superior part: they have never been 
traced below the middle spongy bone. 

3. Mechanism of Smelling. It is very simple; 
and it will be sufficient to recall to mind that the 
apparatus of olfaction is placed in the passage tra- 
versed by the air which supports respiration, and 
that this air is the ordinary vehicle of odours. The 
following, however, is what occurs: in the act of in- 
spiration, the nose by its direction, conveys the air, 
which is loaded with odorous molecules, into the su- 
perior part of the nasal passages; this latter deposites 
them on the papillae of the olfactory mucous surface, 
and this contact instantaneously develops olfaction 
or smelling, which is immediately propagated along 
the ethmoidal nerve to the brain, which receives 
the impression. Most physiologists believe that 
the nasal mucus serves to maintain the softness and 
sensibility of the nervous papillae, and to dissolve 
the odorous molecules, in order to blunt the im- 
pression which would otherwise be too lively. In 
some circumstances odours reach the nasal passages 
by the sole power of their expansibility, which, 
when disagreeable, forces us to hold our nose. 

As to the use of the spongy bones and sinuses, 
we shall see that opinions are divided; let us recall 
to mind, before explaining them, that the olfactory 
nerve has only been traced to the middle spongy 
bone, that it does not penetrate into the sinuses, and 



SENSATIONS. 149 

that, consequently, the superior part of the pituitary 
membrane only, is the seat of smelling. Many 
physiologists think that the turbinated bones serve 
to increase the olfactory surface; some ascribe the 
same use to the sinuses. M. Richerand produced 
no sensation by injecting odours into the maxillary 
sinus; this physiologist thinks that these cavities 
are only useful to the sense of smell by retaining for 
a longer time, a great quantity of odorous mole- 
cules. M. Magendie, with several other authors, 
maintains that the sinuses have no other use than 
that of furnishing to the nasal passages a greater 
quantity of mucus, &c. 

This sense informs us of the existence of odours, 
it warns us of the quality of our aliments and of 
that of the air we breathe. Some philosophers at- 
tribute to it the faculty of recognising places; Rous- 
seau calls it the sense of imagination, because of the 
action of odours in the nervous system; but, for the 
same reason, we might as well, in some cases call it, 
the sense of love. 

Olfaction is subject to our will, we exercise it pas- 
sively or actively; it is passive by education. 

article 6. 

The sense of Sight. 

This is the sense which affords us consciousness 
of the magnitude, shape, distance, and particularly 
of the colour of bodies. 

1. Light. This is a fluid eminently subtle, un- 
confutable, placed between the eye and the lighted 
or luminous bodies which are made visible, and 
their existence in space made known to us. Accord- 
ing to Descartes, light is an ether universally dis- 
13* 



150 SENSATIONS. 

seminated, and the molecules of which are moved 
by the internal oscillations of bodies. According to 
Newton, on the contrary, light emanates from the 
sun and luminous stars. According to this hypo- 
thesis, which is pretty generally admitted, bodies 
are only visible because they reflect apart of the light 
which they receive. Some physicians wished, in 
our time, to refer all the phenomena of light to a 
vibratory movement of bodies. 

Light, reflected from a body, forms diverging 
cones, which always move in direct lines; in the 
medium that it traverses there may happen three 
things; 1st, it reaches us directly, without meeting 
any obstacle in its progress; 2d, or it is reflected in 
part or in totality by an opaque body; in the first 
case it brings us the image of the reflecting body; in 
the second, it transmits that of the bodies whence it 
primitively emanated; the angle of reflection is al- 
ways equal to that of incidence; 3d, finally, when 
light meets with transparent bodies of a different 
density, or of a different nature, it experiences a de- 
viation which is called refraction. When a lumi- 
nous ray passes from a rarer into a denser medium, 
it approaches to the perpendicular; on the contrary, 
it is further removed from it, when it enters from a 
dense into a rare medium. If the refracting body 
has its surfaces parallel, the rays are not disturbed 
from their primitive direction, the refraction that 
they experience in entering, is corrected by that of 
their emergency. If the refracting body is lenticu- 
lar, the rays experience such a refraction, that they 
converge into a point designated/be?/,?. Should the 
convexity of the lens be very great, the rays do not 
unite in the same focus, so that the images are de- 
lineated within too wide a circle; this is an inconve- 



SENSATIONS. 151 

nience which receives the appellation of aberration 
ofspherisity, and which may be remedied by cover- 
ing a part of the lens by diaphragms. If on the con- 
trary the refracting medium is a concave surface, the 
refraction is such, that the rays are divergent, and 
that their focus is beyond the concave body at the 
point of immersion. 

The white light, as was demonstrated by the ex- 
periments of Newton's prism, are composed of co- 
loured rays; each of these rays yield differently to 
the refractory power; so that they always experi- 
ence a dispersion which gives to the object the co- 
lour of the solar spectrum. This is an inconveni- 
ence which we remedy by achromatism. Such 
are the necessary prenotions of optics important to 
possess for the understanding of vision. 

2. Organs of Vision. They are composed of the 
accessory parts (tutamina oculi,J of the eye and 
optic nerve. The protecting parts of the eye are 
the orbits, bony cavities, which contain the muscles 
of the eye and a bed of fat on which this organ soft- 
ly reposes; the eye-broivs, a kind of arched projec- 
tion and covered with hair, which follow the course 
of the superior edge of the orbit. The eye-lashes 
are two moveable musculo-membranous veils, des- 
tined to expose the eye at pleasure to the contact of 
the luminous rays, or to conceal it from them; there 
are two, the one superior, the other inferior; they 
are united at their extremities; the apparent size of 
the eye results from their degree of opening. Their 
internal face is furnished with a mucous membrane, 
which is afterwards reflected over the anterior part 
of the globe of the eye, and terminates, according to 
M. Ribes, around the cornea. It is called conjunc 
tiva, because it unites the eyelids to the ball of the 



152 SENSATIONS. 

eye. The free margin of the eyelids is furnished 
with small hairs, turned outwardly, named eyelash- 
es, and of a multitude of small follicles; finally, a 
small secretory apparatus is appropriated to produce 
a soft albuminous fluid, which lubricates the surface 
of the eye and favours its movements; it has been 
described elsewhere. (See Secretions. ) 

The eye perfectly resembles in its organization 
an instrument of dioptricks; in effect we find in it, 
as in a spy-glass, 1st, an exterior envelope, which 
forms the frame of it, and the interior of which, 
coloured in black, resembles a camera obscura; 2d, 
refracting bodies calculated to concentrate the rays 
of light in determined foci; 3d, finally, a dia- 
phragm perforated with a hole in its centre, and 
destined to correct the aberration of sphericity. 
The eye possesses all these parts, and a nervous or- 
gan also to which the luminous focus, which devel- 
ops the impression, tends. The sclerotica is a fi- 
brous membrane, which has the form of a sphere, 
truncated anteriorly, and perforated posteriorly 
with a hole, through which passes the optic nerve; it 
is this which forms the parietes of the instrument: 
it receives the insertion of the muscles of the eye. 

The choroid is a soft, brown, vascular membrane, 
which lines the preceding; perforated like it behind 
by an opening for the passage of the optic nerve; it 
is equally truncated anteriorly, where it corresponds 
to the great circumference of the iris. It is formed 
by the intertwining of the ciliary arteries and veins, 
divided into two lamina, the most internal of which 
is called Ruischian. This membrane is impreg- 
nated with a brownish pigmentum; it is this which 
makes the eye a camera-obscura. 

The cornea is a transparent membrane, convex, 



SENSATIONS. 153 

grooved in the anterior circumference of the scle- 
rotica; its anterior surface, projects considerably, 
and is moistened with a particular mucus: its pos- 
terior is lined by the membrane of the aqueous hu- 
mour. It is the first refracting body of the eye. 

•Aqueous humour. It is a transparent fluid 
which occupies the space between the cornea and 
crystalline. This space is divided into two parts 
by the iris; they are the chambers of the eye; it is 
generally admitted that this humour is secreted 
by a proper membrane which has been described by 
M. Demours. The aqueous humour is the second 
refracting body, convex anteriorly and concave pos- 
teriorly. 

The Crystalline is a transparent lens, somewhat 
less convex anteriorly than posteriorly, situated at 
the union of the anterior third, with the two poste- 
rior thirds of the eye, and lodged in a double fold of 
the membrana hyaloidea. This organ is composed 
of a proper membrane which secretes the crystal- 
line humour; this latter is formed by concentric 
ellipsoidal layers, thicker in proportion as they are 
central; most anatomists consider the crystalline to 
be inorganic. It is the lens of the eye; its surface 
is bedewed by a viscous humour called by the name 
of Morgagni. 

The vitreous humour is perfectly transparent, it 
occupies the three posterior fourths of the eye, and 
is circumscribed on all sides by a very thin mem- 
brane (the hyaloid;) it sends prolongations into 
the vitreous humour, and divides its own cavity into 
small cells which communicate with each other; it 
secretes the very humour which fills it up; it sepa- 
rates anteriorly into two laminae which embrace the 
crystalline; the vitreous humour is concave anterior- 



154 SENSATIONS. 

ly and convex posteriorly. It is the last refracting 
body of the eye. 

The Iris is a circular membrane framed in the 
anterior circumference of the choroid; it is perpen- 
dicularly placed between the crystalline and cor- 
nea. Its centre is perforated by an opening, the 
dimensions of which vary according to the intensity 
of light (Pupil;) its posterior surface is coloured 
by a black paint; anatomists do not agree as to its 
nature; some suppose it muscular, others think it is 
vascular and nervous.* It fulfils the office of dia- 
phragm and which corrects the aberration of sphe- 
ricity of the crystalline. 

Anteriorly to the frame of the iris a kind of 
grayish ring is found (ciliary ligament,) which 
seems to hold this membrane in its proper place. 
Behind the circumference of the iris we find some 
small triangular vasculo-membranous bodies, cover- 
ed with a black pigmentum (ciliary processes,) 
from sixty to eighty in number; they are extended 
from the circumference of the choroid to the anteri- 
or part of the vitreous humour and the crystalline; 
their nature and their use are not as yet well under- 
stood. M. De Blainville considers them as folds 
of the choroid; M. JRibes thinks that they secrete 
the humours of the eye. From their erectile nature 
and their situation anterior to the circumference of 
the crystalline, might we not justly consider them 
as a second diaphragm? 

The eye, as we have already observed, unites in 
its structure more than one dioptric instrument; 

* This organ properly belongs to the class of membranes, 
called by some modern physiologists erectile tissues, and 
which Bichat overlooked in his classification. Trans. 



SENSATIONS. 155 

an organ which receives the image and transmits 
it to the brain, such are the retina and optic nerve; 
the retina is a pulpous, grayish membrane, having a 
slight lilac hue, situated between the choroid and 
the vitreous humour: it is essentially formed by the 
expansion of the optic nerve, and some ramifications 
of the central artery of Zinn. Within two lines of 
the optic nerve, on the outside of it, and in the di- 
rection of the axis of the eye, this membrane pre- 
sents a yellow spot discovered by Soemmering. 
Finally, the optic nerves arise from the anterior pair 
of the tubercula quadrigemina, are reinforced by 
filaments arising from the corpus gimiculatum ex- 
ternum and from the tuber cinereum unite over 
the sella turcica, expanding at last to form the retina. 

Six small muscles are contained in the orbit des- 
tined to move the eye, the motions of which are 
well understood. 

3. Mechanism of vision. The luminous rays 
which emanate from all the lighted points of a body 
form a cone, the base of which reposes on the cornea-; 
this membrane, because of its polish, reflects some 
rays of light, which impart to it the brilliancy it 
possesses; the remaining part of the cone penetrates 
into the eye to produce an impression on its nerv- 
ous organ, after having experienced different refrac- 
tions. The fasciculus which occupies the centre of 
the cone is parallel to the axis of the eye; it falls per- 
pendicularly over the summit of the refractingbodies, 
and reaches the retina without experiencing any re- 
fraction; but it is otherwise with the rays of the 
circumference of the cone; they take the following 
course; 1st, in crossing the cornea, they tend towards 
their axis, and consequently they augment in inten- 
sity; 2d, in entering into the aqueous humour, the 



156 SENSATIONS. 

power of refraction, which is a little less than 
that of the cornea, are somewhat drawn from the 
perpendicular, so that some fall on the anterior 
surface of the iris which partially reflects them, pro- 
ducing the variegated colours of this membrane; 
the rays which cross the pupil are the only ones 
which serve for vision; 3d, these latter afterwards 
strike the anterior face of the crystalline; some, be- 
cause of the polish of this body, are reflected and 
come out, or are absorbed by the blackish coat of 
the iris and ciliary processes; but the greater num- 
ber traverse this lens, are strongly refracted, and 
acquire by this simple act considerable intensity; 
4th, lastly, all the fasciculi thus brought together, 
traverse the vitreous humour, which increases the 
refracting effect of the crystalline, or which augments 
even the degree of convergency of the rays, which 
unite at last on the retina around their axis, in a 
point designated focus. It is this membrane which 
develops the sensation; the portions of light which 
traverse it are absorbed by the choroid. Thus in 
crossing the eye the luminous rays form another 
cone, the base of which is at the cornea, and the 
summit at some point or other of the retina. 

The fasciculi of light which are reflected from the 
superior and inferior part of a visible body, cross 
each other in the crystalline called its optical centre^ 
so that the image of the body is delineated in the bot- 
tom of the eye in a reversed situation; how does it 
happen then that we see it upright? Buffon pre- 
tends that the sense of touch has rectified this error. 
In effect, Berkley observed that the image is revers- 
ed in the bottom of the eye; but as we see our own 
bodies reversed, we judge of the direction of bodies 
when compared with ours. 



SENSATIONS. 157 

How does it happen also that with two eyes we 
do not see objects double? Buff on, in order to 
explain the unity of sensation, has had recourse to 
the sense of touch; Jickermann, to the reunion of 
the optic nerves; metaphysicians have observed that 
it was necessary to distinguish impression from 
perception, which is always simple. M. Gall pre- 
sumes that there is only one eye at any time in ac- 
tivity, &c. 

The reach of the sight, although very different 
in individuals, is always limited within narrow 
bounds: 1st, if the object is too small, it does not re- 
flect a sufficient number of rays to be perceived; by 
bringing it near the eye, the rays diverge too much, 
the organ has no longer any power to unite them 
on the retina, whatever ma}' be the size of the bo- 
dies, so that when the body has arrived at a certain 
point near the eye, it ceases to see, because its re- 
fracting power is not sufficiently powerful to unite 
the rays which have too great a divergency: 2d, at a 
determinable distance, objects cease likewise to be 
seen, either because the rays have been absorbed in 
their course, or because the image becomes too small 
to be perceived, or finally, because the refracting 
power of the eye becomes too considerable, and the 
rays are united at a distance before the retina. The 
two extremes of the points of adunation of the rays 
of vision, so as to fail before or behind the retina, 
constitute myopia or presbyopia. 

It is generally thought that the eye experiences 
internal modifications, in order to see equally at dif- 
ferent distances; it is certain that the nearer the ob- 
ject is the more the pupil closes. But what is not 
so evidently certain is the lengthening of the eye by- 
its oblique muscles, its shortening by its right mus- 
14 



158 SENSATIONS. 

cles, the augmentation of the curvature of the cor- 
nea, and the displacement of the crystalline, which 
are nevertheless pretty generally admitted. 

The description, entirely physical, that we have 
just given of the mechanism of vision, supposes 
first, that the eye is perfectly achromatic; secondly, 
that its refracting bodies are in such relations that 
they adunate the luminous rays on the retina, by de- 
stroying the aberration of refrangibility. - 

Sight, like all the other senses, is closely con- 
nected with, and subservient to, intelligence; phi- 
losophers are divided on the importance of its attri- 
butes; some, as Condillac and Berkley, consider 
this sense as inferior, others considerably exaggerate 
its importance. 

- article 7. 

Sense of Hearing. 

Hearing is the sense destined to make us ac- 
quainted with sounds. 

1. Sound is that sensation which we experience 
when the vibrations communicated to a sonorous 
body strike our ear; in effect, every time that a body- 
is struck there is produced, in its molecules, a vi- 
bratory movement, which is conveyed to the dif- 
ferent strata of the air successively, until it reaches 
our ears, when it produces the sensation of sound; 
we can not precisely determine what are the phy- 
sical qualities that render a body sonorous; we only 
know generally that sound is in the same ratio of its 
hardness and elasticity. 

Tone arises from the number of vibrations which 
ire produced in a given time; the more they T are 
multiplied, the more the tone is acute; the appreci- 



SENSATIONS. 159 

able tones are included within the limits of from 32 
to 700 or 800 vibrations; the sound which departs 
from these extremes assumes the name of noise. 
Tune {timbre,) or the quality of sound, is generally 
ascribed to the nature of the sonorous body; M. Biot 
thinks that it appertains to the harmonic sounds 
which always accompany a fundamental sound. 

The rapidity with which the sonorous undula- 
tions of the air are communicated through aerian 
molecules is immense; it has been reckoned at 173 
fathoms in a second. Water and all the elastic so- 
lids may also communicate sound. 

2. Organ of hearing. Situated on the sides of 
the head, and at the base of the cranium, it com- 
prehends: 

The external ear. It is composed of the ear pro- 
perly so called, a kind of acoustic anfractuous conch, 
composed of the external skin, of a fibro-cartilage 
which gives to it its form, and of the intrinsic and 
extrinsic muscles; of the meatus auditorius exter- 
nus ten or twelve lines long, extending from the 
bottom of the conch to the cavity of the tympa- 
num, it is formed of a bony portion, of a fibro-car- 
tilage, and of the skin which here, is furnished with 
follicles very much developed, which are called ce- 
nt minozis, because of the waxy humour they se- 
crete. 

The cavity of the tympanum is an irregular ca- 
vity within the base of the petrus portion of the 
temporal bone; exteriorly it is divided from the 
external conduit by the membrana tympani; within 
it communicates with the internal ear, through two 
openings, the foramen ovale and the foramen rotun~ 
dum, which are covered over by a dry, vibrating 
membrane, similar to that of the tympanum; below is 



160 SENSATIONS. 

observed the glenoidal fissure, through which passes 
the anterior muscle of the malleus, and its larger 
apophysis; behind, several little holes are observed, 
which communicate with the mastoid cells; finally, 
before, it presents a bony and cartilaginous canal, 
which opens at the superior and lateral part of the 
pharynx, and permits it to communicate freely with 
the external air (the eustachian tube. ) 

This cavity, continually filled with air, lined by a 
thin membrane, is crossed by a chain of four small 
bones articulated with each other; moved by pecu- 
liar muscles, the whole acting on the pincipleofa 
lever, extending from the membrana tympani to 
that of the foramen ovale, of which they influence 
the different degrees of tension. These bones are 
the malleus, the incus, the orbicular, and the 
stapes. 

The internal ear or labyrinth comprehends three 
cavities, which communicate with each other: 1st, 
the vestibule; it is a spheroidal cavity situated be- 
tween the tympanum and the meatus auditorius in- 
terims, through which the acoustic nerve passes; 
seven apertures are remarked in it: within, the fora- 
men ovale; anteriorly, the orifice of the scala ves- 
tibuli, and in the remaining part of its extent the 
five orifices of the semi circular canals. 2d, The 
cochlea, is a very bony cavity divided into two spi- 
ral canals and supported by a central cone, called 
modiolus; this latter is perforated by numerous lit- 
tle holes, through which penetrate the cochleal 
nerves; a bony and membranous partition divides 
the two scalae, the external opens into the vestibule, 
the internal scala communicates with the foramen 
ovale, hence scala vestibuli and scala tyynpani. 
3d, The semicircular canals are three in number; 



SENSATIONS. 161 

two are vertical, the third is horizontal; there is be- 
tween them a small triangular space which is filled 
with diploe, they open into the vestibulum. 

All these cavities are lined with a thin membrane 
which exhales a still thinner transparent fluid call- 
ed the humour of Cotugno, and which receives the 
ramifications of the portia mollis; this latter arises 
from the restiform body. 

3. Mechanism of hearing. The ear so called, 
by its excavation, gathers the sonorous undulations 
and directs them towards the auricular canal; Boer- 
haave thinks that its different curvatures are geo- 
metrically disposed to produce this effect. In this 
first passage the sound is united into a focus; and 
for this reason it augments in intensity; it follows 
the auricular canal, and soon reaches the membrana 
tympani,to which it communicates its vibrations;this 
latter, being thin, dry, elastic as the head of a drum, 
and consequently well calculated to repeat the sound, 
transmits it to the internal ear by three several means ; 
to wit: the chain formed by the small bones, the 
parietes of the cavity of the tympanum which 
is elastic, finally the air which fills up this cavity. 
Then the membranes of the foramen ovale and the 
foramen rotundum, and of the vestibule, which are 
dry and vibratory like that of the tympanum, all 
participate in the oscillation, and transmit it to the 
lymph of Cotugno. Finally, this humour, which 
fills up the whole labyrinth, presses the vibratory 
waves against the nervous extremities which float 
in its interior, and the impression whieh they re- 
ceive is, lastly, transmitted by the acoustic nerve to 
the sensorium commune. 

Sound sometimes does not follow the course 
which we have just indicated. For example, when 
14* 



162 SENSATIONS. 

stopping our ears, we still hear the tick of a watch 
placed between our teeth; it is supposed then that 
the sonorous undulations are communicated by the 
bones of the cranium; in effect, this is very probable, 
for we know that under some circumstances solid 
bodies are excellent conductors of sound. 

Such is, in an abridged manner, the physical his- 
tory of hearing; beyond this we have no positive 
knowledge. But physiologists wished to give more 
precision and describe in a more special manner, 
the part that each portion of the ear acts; we shall 
see, while examining the principal hypotheses, that 
they are far from having thrown any light on this 
phenomenon. Dumas considers the membrana 
tympani as being formed of concentric curved lines, 
which have the property of vibrating each in a par- 
ticular tone; others have advanced that the differ- 
ence of tones results from the different degrees of 
tension of this membrane. The cavity of the tym- 
panum has been considered according to some, as 
calculated to diminish the intensity of sounds; while 
according to others it increases them. 

As to the small bones, it has been presumed that 
they strike on each other, or on the membrana tym- 
pani only; we readily conceive that such hypothe- 
ses do not deserve to be repeated. Besides the use 
which we have already assigned to them, it is gene- 
rally admitted that they modify the degrees of ten- 
sion of the membrana tympani and of the membrane 
of the foramen ovale. 

Does the Eustachian tube serve only to receive 
the air of the cavity of the tympanum? Some phy- 
siologists maintain that it may be a passage for the 
sonorous undulations to enter. The same thing has 
been remarked with respect to the vistibular mem- 



SENSATIONS. 163 

brane, as to the membrana tympani; at times they 
believed it composed of vibratory zones, at others 
it has been presumed that these different degrees of 
tensions modified the intensity of sound, or produc- 
ed different tones. Cotugno supposed that the 
lymph, which fills up the labyrinth, circulated in the 
semicircular canals and in the cochlea, which effect 
was induced by the sonorous vibrations. Lecat con- 
sidered the cochlea as an instrument intended to de- 
velop and produce sound. Boerhaave entertained 
nearly the same opinion with respect to the semi- 
circular canals; some physiologists of his time, be- 
lieved them to be filled with different liquids sus- 
ceptible of vibrating in different manners. 

Hearing is one of the senses which most enlarges 
our intelligence; some metaphysicians ascribe to it 
vocal language, music, &c; without being the source 
of these faculties, it subserves them in a very import- 
ant manner. Like all the other senses, it may acquire 
power and perfection by practice, and we may ex- 
ercise it passively or actively, that is to say, to hear 
or to listen. 

article 8. 
Internal Sensations. 

These are internal feelings which are spontane- 
ously developed in our organs, without the inter- 
ference of external bodies. Volition has no power 
over them; we can neither produce nor suppress 
them at pleasure; the special character of these sen- 
sations is that of being all, more or less agreeable, 
to assume a pleasurable or painful type, according- 
ly as we gratify or resist the calls made by them. 

All the internal sensations may be referred to 
three great classes. 



164 SENSATIONS. 

1. Some warn us of the want of action according 
to the state in which our organs are found; such are 
the wants of drinking, eating, and respiring, as well 
as those of the secretions, to which we must add the 
want of the connexion of the sexes, and that of lying- 
in; finally the wants of moving, speaking, exercis- 
ing the external senses, the intellectual and affec- 
tive/unctions, &c. 

2. The others warn us of a contrary want; it is 
induced when the organs have acted: to this second 
class we refer the want of repose, sleep, leisure, 
distractions, &c. 

3. Finally, in the third class are contained the 
sensations which occur during the action of the or- 
gans; such are those which warn us of our move- 
ments, even those which instruct us of our ex- 
istence. 

Most of these sensations belong to some functions; 
it is to the history of the latter that we refer for 
their description; nevertheless, let us announce be- 
forehand, that their mechanism is unknown, and 
that all our science is confined simply to observe 
them. 

Morbid Sensations. 

Pains are morbid sensations which may be pro- 
duced in all the parts of our body, under the in- 
fluence of the various physical or organic alterations, 
and which are intended to warn us of the destruc- 
tion of our economy; they are infinite, language is 
insufficient to convey all its varieties; the ancients 
referred them to four species: viz., hearing down 
pains, tensive, lancinating, and stinging or gnaw- 
ing pains; as to their mechanism, it is the same as 
that of the sensations generally. 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 165 



CHAPTER II. 



INTELLECTUAL AND AFFECTIVE FUNCTIONS. 

There exists in the economy a peculiar order of 
functions, which composes the noblest attribute, and 
the most characteristic mark of our species, and which 
in reality insures its pre-eminence above all others* 
For a long time the exercise of these functions, the stu- 
dy of which constitutes psycologi/, were looked upon 
as the immediate and exclusive result of the opera- 
tions of the soul; and some men, strangers to phy- 
siology, decorated with the title of metaphysicians, 
had taken possession of it: but supported by the 
reasons that we shall indicate hereafter, physiolo- 
gists have again repossessed themselves of this beau- 
tiful attribute of their science. 

These new faculties, the science of which we have 
already observed, constitutes psycology, are divided 
into intellectual and affective; they properly belong 
to moral man. 

We shall begin their history by that of the ence- 
phalon; and we shall expose in a second article the ana- 
lysis and use of these faculties, without passing any 
judgment t beforehand on their organ; in a third, we 
shall seek to determine their material agent, for there 
are as yet many physiologists who are far from be- 
lieving the brain to be their instrument. We shall 
indicate in a fourth, the sources whence this agent 



166 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

draws the materials on which ifs operations are ex- 
ercised; in a fifth article, we shall develop the 
modifications that different circumstances induce on 
this organ and on its functional operations; finally, 
in a sixth article, we shall treat of the various means 
of divination employed to judge a" priori of the de- 
velopment of these faculties. 

article 1. 

Of the Encephalon. 

The description of the encephalon is closely united 
with the history of sensations, since, as we have al- 
ready seen in the study of the latter, it is the reser- 
voir and the perceiving organ of them; but as on 
the other hand it is the instrument of a series of 
moral acts of which we shall treat, it has appeared 
to us that it would be more proper to place it imme- 
diately after the sensations, heading the intellectual 
and affective faculties. 

The encephalon is a large nervous symmetrical 
mass, contained within the cavity of the cranium, 
and is composed of three different parts: the me- 
dulla oblongata, the cerebellum, and cerebrum. 

1 The medulla oblongata. It forms the base 
of the encephalon; it extends from the foramen mag- 
num occipitis to the anterior part of the cuneiform 
process of the os occipitis ; it presents to our considera- 
tion, 1st, at its anterior extremity, two voluminous 
prolongations, the crura cerebri, which extend into 
the hemispheres of the cerebrum, and by their ex- 
pansion forming them; 2d, on its sides we ob- 
serve two less voluminous prolongations, the crura 
cerebelli, which pass in the same manner into the 
lobes of the cerebellum; 3d, at its posterior ex- 
tremity, it is immediately continuous with the me- 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 167 

dulla spinalis, by a third prolongation called the 
rachidian bulb or bulbus rachidicus: this latter 
presents two pairs of eminences, the corpora pyra- 
midalia, and the corpora olivaria, above two 
other eminences called corpora restiformia, which 
gradually separate from each other from behind for- 
ward, so as to circumscribe a triangular depression, 
which makes a part of the fourth ventricle, and the 
angle of which being verj^ acute, receives the de- 
signation of calamus scriptorius; 4th, lastly, a sort 
of knot unites all these various parts in a central 
point, called pons varolii, the meso-cephale of M. 
Chaussier; its inferior surface reposes on the basi- 
lary process, the superior concealed by the lobes 
of the cerebellum and cerebrum, present from be 
fore backwards the tubucula quadrigemina, nates 
and testes, below which is found the aqueduct of 
Sylvius; the valve of Vieussens; lastly an excavated 
surface which, together with that of the rachidian 
bulb, forms the posterior parietes of the fourth ven- 
tricle. 

The cerebellum. This is an irregular ovoidal 
organ, depressed from above downwards, and the 
greater diameter of which is transversal; situated in 
the inferior depressions of the occipital bone, above 
the medulla oblongata, below the posterior lobes of 
the cerebrum from which it is separated by the ten- 
torium. Its superior surface presents a median pro- 
jection, the superior vermicular eminence {vermis 
superior); the inferior presents a similar eminence 
called the vermicular inferior eminence, [vermis 
inferior) and a considerable depression which lodges 
the rachidian bulb. It is through the anterior part 
of its circumference that it receives its crura sent 
from the medulla oblongata. The whole surface of 



168 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

the cerebellum presents a multitude of furrows, 
which divide it into as many lamelse, somewhat 
regular and concentric, which are themselves sub- 
divided into secondary lamelse much more nu- 
merous. 

The cerebellum is formed on its exterior by the 
grayish cortical substance, within by the white me- 
dullary substance; in the centre of this latter, we 
observe a grayish circular fringe called corpus 
rhomboideum. 

The cerebrum. It is by far the most considera- 
ble part of the encephalon ; situated before and above 
the preceding, it occupies the whole cavity of the 
cranium if we except the part comprised below the 
tentorium. Considered as a whole, the brain has 
an oval form, its surface presents a multitude of un- 
dulated eminences (convolutions), separated by deep 
fissures called sulci; it is composed of two sym- 
metrical lateral halves named hemispheres, separated 
on their superior part by a deep longitudinal fur- 
row (Jissura longiludinalis) ; they are united on 
the contrary, at their middle and inferior part by 
the corpus callosum. 

When examined at its inferior part, the brain 
presents, 1st, on the median line from before back- 
wards, the anterior extremity of the corpus callosum, 
a membrane of a grayish substance, which extends 
from this extremity to the union of the optic nerves, 
the commissure of these nerves, the tuber cinereum, 
the infemdibulum, and the pituitary gland, emi- 
nentise mammillares, a transversal fissure described 
by Bichat, and through which the pia mater and the 
arachnoid penetrate into the ventricles; finally, the 
posterior extremity of the corpus callosum. 2d, On 
the sides of the inferior surface of each hemisphere we 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 169 

remark three lobes, one anterior, bearing on the or- 
bital vault or anterior fossa; a middle one, separated 
from the preceding by the fissure of Sylvius; and the 
last, posterior, supported by the tentorium. 

The internal organization of the brain presents a 
great many remarkable parts which we shall sim- 
ply enumerate. 1st. On the median line we re- 
mark the corpus callosum; the septum lucidum, 
in the interior of which we find the fifth ventricle; 
the fornix, below which we find theplexus choroides, 
which covers its inferior surface in the form of a 
lyre; finally, below again we meet with the middle 
ventricle, which presents behind, the pineal gland, 
the posterior commissure and the anus, which is 
*the orifice anterior to the aqueduct of Sylvius. An- 
teriorl}', the anterior commissure, the vulva, and 
the two holes which communicate with the lateral 
ventricles. 

2d. On each side within each hemisphere, we 
meet with two large cavities, (the lateral ventri- 
cles,) which present to our, consideration the cor- 
pora striata, the thalami optici, the tsenia striata 
which separate them, the plexus choroides, the 
posterior angles of the fornix, the cornu ammo- 
nis: finally, the digital cavity, in which we remark 
the Hippocampus Minor or Ergot. 

The cerebrum, like the cerebellum, is composed 
on its exterior of a grayish or cortical substance, and 
of a white medullary substance in the centre; but it 
contains, moreover, ganglia of grayish matter, in 
which its elementary fibres acquire additional fibres 
before expanding. 

From this short description of the encephalon, 
we may have been able to remark that the medulla 
oblongata, such as we have considered it, forms a 
15 



170 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

kind of tripod, or central focus, of the nervous appa- 
ratus; on the one hand it communicates with the 
cerebrum and cerebellum which seem to result from 
its expansion; on the other it establishes their com- 
munication with the rest of the system, by being 
continued inferiorly, with the medulla spinalis. On 
a level with the foramen magnum occipitis the an- 
terior pyramids interchange fibres; some authors 
pretend that this exchange of medullary substance 
in this place, is general. 

We have considered the brain as a whole nervous 
mass, but M. Gall maintains that it results from 
several groups of special nervous systems appropri- 
ated to the various moral acts; most modern physi- 
ologists acknowledge his doctrine. 

The encephalon presents in its volume some dif- 
ferences according to individuals, sexes, &c. Au- 
thors have thought they remarked, for instance, that 
the development and number of convolutions were 
in a direct ratio to the extent of intelligence; and that 
females had, comparatively speaking, a smaller cere- 
brum, and the cerebellum larger than men, &c. 

The scalp, the bones of the cranium, the dura 
mater, the arachnoid and pia mater, aie the envelopes 
which protect the encephalon; it receives four vo- 
luminous arteries; the two internal carotids, and the 
two vertebral arteries; they are ramified ad infini- 
tum in the pia mater, before entering into its mass; 
its venous blood goes into sinuses which belong to 
the dura mater, and which pour it afterwards into 
the internal jugular veins. 

article 4. 

section 1. Of the intellectual Faculties. 
Intellect, intelligence, understanding, mind, such 
are the various generic names applied to the facul- 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 171 

ties by which man knows and reasons of natural 
agents, and turns them to his advantage, when ne- 
cessity requires it, either for his utility or pleasure. 
We name metaphysics, and more particularly idio- 
logy the science which has for its object their study. 
Philosophers differ in opinion as to the number and 
designation of the first intellectual faculties; they 
are first divided into two great classes; some, Locke 
and his school, admit one single principal faculty 
whence the others are derived; the others, Male- 
branche, Hobbcs, Willis, Haller, Ch. Bonnet, and 
Gall, acknowledge the plurality of faculties, and 
consequently the different use of the various parts 
of their organ, of the brain, although we speak of 
this organ in anticipation. 

The first do not agree, neither on the primitive 
essential faculty, nor on the number of those de- 
rived from it. Locke and Condillac place it in 
sensation, M. de la Romigni'ere, in attention, M. 
Destutt-Tracy, in perception. From sensation, 
Condillac infers attention, comparison, judgment, 
reflection, imagination, reasoning. From attention 
M. de la JRomiguiere deduces comparison and rea- 
soning. From perception Destutt-Tracy supposes 
memory, judgment, and volition to be derived. 

Ch. Bonnet, Kant and Gall, have laboured to 
refer to original faculties, or rather, to functional 
results, the phenomena of mind. Kant admits 
twenty-five forms or primitive fundamental quali- 
ties, M. Gall twenty-seven, to which M. Spurzheim 
has added eight new faculties. Let us observe that 
among them we find comprised the affective or mor- 
al faculties, properly so called, of which we shall 
treat hereafter. 

It is very difficult to fix precisely the number of 



172 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

these fundamental faculties; some may be only the 
modifications of some others; but the plurality of 
the faculties seems, however, admissible on the fol- 
lowing considerations. 

By sensation, attention, and perception, (the first 
considered by Condillac, the second by M. de la 
Ro?niguiere, the third by M. Destittt-Tracy as ge- 
neric faculties and parent of all the others,) we may 
explain, it is true, the intellectual operations; but 
must we conclude from that, that there is no special 
independent faculties connected with distinct appa- 
ratus, concurring in the production of a general 
faculty? We see the faculties of digestion and of 
sensations serve to explain the digestive and senso- 
rial phenomena, and these general functions to be, 
however, composed of special functions; the one of 
mastication, of insalivation, of deglutition, &c; the 
other of sight, hearing, &c. 

Why, in the series of animals, in the different 
ages, do we see the number or intensity of the fa- 
culties to increase or diminish, and these changes 
to coincide with variations in the number and form 
of the parts? Why so great a diversity in the ar- 
rangement and cerebral structure, if there exists one 
intellectual power only? If this faculty is a whole 
or unit, why do not all the persons who apply 
themselves closely and with attention to the study 
of mathematics, poetry, painting, music, medicine, 
mechanics, become Ncivtons, Homers, Raphaels, 
Lullis, Hippocrates, Vaucansons? 

Why are there men who are ingenious with re- 
spect to one faculty, while they are mere idiots in 
another? Why do we see one faculty disappear and 
the other remain the same? 

There is every probability, that the phenomena of 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 173 

intelligence ought not to be ascribed to one single 
primitive faculty. I say likely, because this doctrine 
of the plurality of the primordial faculties does not 
remove all the objections; for instance, when we re- 
flect on the unity of sensation, of existence, of the 
self {moi;) there ought to be, remarks M. Georget, 
consciousness of self as often as there are intellectu- 
al or affective faculties. Some one has answered 
for M. Gall, for I am not aware that he has ever 
touched the question, that there was a faculty for 
this perception of the thinking being, from which 
faculty the others were derived; but in this case, the 
latter would be nothing more than dispositions or 
tendencies. 

We wonder also in seeing these faculties recipro- 
cally borrow knowledge, to communicate with each 
other for the production of intellectual acts and for 
theaccomplishment of which thesimultaneousaction 
of several of them is often necessary, and in the mean 
time to remain in relation with the sensorial power; 
but these difficulties are less striking than the pre- 
ceding; and if we recall to mind that all the nerves 
emanate from the spinal marrow and medulla ob- 
longata, the fibres of which diverge and form the 
encephalon, we shall then have obtained a part of 
their solution, at least of that of the latter. 

In the twenty-seven primitive faculties of M. 
Gall, we shall not be astonished at not finding sen- 
sation, attention, perception, comparison, judg- 
ment, and reasoning. These are general attri- 
butes, modes of manifestation common to all the 
faculties of the intellect, to all the moral and in- 
stinctive qualities. A man, for example, may have, 
respecting mechanics, a perception, a judgment, 
and a ready and correct reasoning, who may have 
15* 



174 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

nothing of these faculties with respect to compara- 
tive sagacity, &c. therefore we shall arrive more or 
less easily at the knowledge of an object according 
to the development of the faculties with which we 
contemplate it. 

Perception, which is the most indispensable con- 
dition for intellectual labour, supposes sensation and 
attention; it procures the notion, the knowledge, the 
idea of bodies, but it can only give simple individu- 
al ideas. When the same perception is repeated on 
the particular qualities of bodies, singly or collec- 
tively, then the comparative faculty points out the 
reiterated perceptions, and creates the concrete, ge- 
neric, and collective ideas. These ideas are abstract, 
because they do not possess any material type. Com- 
parison may be exercised as well on these latter 
as on the former. From these concrete ideas, pa- 
rent of the sciences, we draw ideas applicable to a 
special object. The former operation is named 
synthesis, the latter analysis. From comparison 
necessarily results judgment. Lastly, we reason 
when we combine the relations established between 
the judgments of various comparisons. 

According to Condillac, imagination is the facul- 
ty which recalls preconceived ideas; he also refers 
to it memory. According to M. Destult- Tracy ', it 
is the sagaciousness in seizing the many relations, 
not only in painting and in music, but generally in 
all the arts and sciences. Memory is the faculty 
which recalls the idea of objects; it is active if voli- 
tion sets it to work; it is passive if it alone is exer- 
cised, and the recalling of the idea is made, in a 
manner, without our knowledge. Then it assumes 
more particularly the name of remembrance. 
Volition is a faculty, a special attribute of the self. 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 175 

(moi) which irresistibly allures us towards a particu- 
lar object, after a comparison has been established. 
Volition gratified, is followed by pleasure; if thwart- 
ed, by pain. There is often a tendency to satisfy a 
want, the activity of a faculty; then, accordingly as 
this want is more imperious, or is kept in check by 
another, the volition of satisfying it is more or less 
free. Therefore, this power of 3'ielding to, or re- 
risting volition, is not absolute; we possess it in a 
much higher degree, as we less permit one or seve- 
ral faculties to predominate. In a word, although 
moral independence^ and free will, has been granted 
to us, its exercise is more or less easy, according to 
the intensity of desires. 

The view which we have just given of the num- 
ber and tendency of the faculties of the mind, de- 
monstrates the difficulty of this analysis. We have 
seen some refer every thing to a first and single fa- 
culty, and then dispute between each other as to the 
one to be fixed upon, on the order of precedency 
and causation of those which are derived from it; 
others refer the intellect to several primitive facul- 
ties. The diversity of opinions will be not less, 
with respect to the sources whence these beautiful 
faculties are derived. 

These new senses are more precious or useful 
than the ordinary senses; these latter enlarge the 
sphere of the existence of man but moderately; the 
former cause him to build cities, direct him over 
the seas, enable him to have intercourse with all 
men scattered over our planet; by them he soars 
into the abyss of the heavens, unfolds the move- 
ment and harmony of worlds; by them also he creates 
the useful arts; he animates the canvas and the mar- 
ble; paints with the brilliant colours of poetry the 



176 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

high deeds of heroes, the sweet and peaceable life 
of rustic man ; finally, it is the intellect which creates 
and directs the expression of the physiognomy, 
gestures, voice, a mean of communication establish- 
ed between cotemporaries; moreover, by giving' 
body to ideas, by signs or writing, he may commu- 
nicate with ages to come; with this written lan- 
guage man prevents his own ideas from vanishing 
as soon as formed, and thus transmitting them to 
his species, insures the continual and almost infinite 
progress of the arts and sciences, in as much as it is 
in our power to improve them. 

section 2. Of Effective Faculties. 

Morals are that part of psycology which treats of 
the affective faculties, the qualities of the heart to 
speak the language of worldly people, and places 
limits where volition must confine their use in order 
not to overstep the boundary of wisdom, which is 
a source of our happiness. 

We have already seen that idiologists wish to at- 
tribute the intellectual faculties, some to an essen- 
tial faculty primitive and single; others to a greater 
or smaller number of independent faculties. The 
same diversity exists among moralists. 

The celebrated Volney, with many others, ascribes 
them all to self love; and as a type of the secondary 
classifications, he selects love or pleasure, attach- 
ment or hatred, pain or aversion. With respect to 
their consequences to society, we divide them into 
virtuous, vicious or mixed. 

M. Finely considered them with respect to their 
effects, and classed them into expansive and op- 
pressive. 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 177 

M. Esquirol divides them into primitives, which 
belong to the animal life of man, isolated, as cou- 
rage, love, hatred; and into fortitious or social, as 
vanity, pride, and ambition. 

Lastly, M. Mibert causes them to be derived 
from four primordial laws; viz. instinct of preserva- 
tion, instinct of imitation, instinct of relation, and 
instinct of reproduction. 

M. Gall, we have already remarked in the pre- 
ceding article, admits twenty seven primordial 
faculties, among which we remark the first affective 
faculties, desires, sentiments or passions; these are, 
love, attachment, self defence, carnivorous instinct, 
the love of property, pride, ambition and vanity. 
He reserves the names of affections for the various 
modes of being of the faculties according to the cir- 
cumstances of the moment, as joy, chagrin, anger, 
fear and fright. 

If an effective faculty is sufficiently developed or 
excited to constrain volition to satisfy it, to produce 
a lively desire, anxiety and suffering follow, hence 
the word passion. 

Passions are internal and cerebral sensations, in- 
clinations, wants somewhat similar to hunger and 
thirst. It is as agreeable to the self to gratify it as 
it is painful to resist it; but unrestrained conduct 
often leads to fatal consequences to individuals and 
to society; on the contrary, restraint, by sparing us re- 
pentance, prepares peace and happiness. Now, com- 
parative sagacity, notions of just and unjust, con- 
sciousness and moral liberty, having been given to 
man; he thus becomes the only instrument of his own 
happiness or misfortune; at least in the eyes of 
the wise who consider man in himself, and not slave 
to the prejudices of the world. 



17S INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

All the passions are useful in themselves; provid- 
ed however they are regulated, moderated by wise 
volition, there exist therefore no passions exclu- 
sively virtuous or vicious; all are mixed. 

Passions, like intellectual operations, become for 
man a source of joy and pleasures if he does not abuse 
them. The love of progeny, friendship, erotic at- 
tachment, are elements of happiness. 

By the faculty of friendship, man is allured to 
live in society; a precious tendency, without which 
he would inevitably perish in his long; childhood, 
when we consider the imperfection of his senses, 
the privation of offensive and defensive arms. He 
has need of being fed by his parents, and that they 
should unfold in him that intelligence, which will 
hereafter transform him into a man, into a lord of 
the creation, being while a child, helpless and mis- 
erable. 

There exist affective faculties called human, be- 
cause they have been only granted to man. Such 
are goodness and religious instinct or theology; the 
former is the source of piety and generosity; it 
prompts men to help each other, and consequently 
becomes greatly useful to the formation and support 
of society; the latter prompts us to love and adore 
God, and furnishes, let it be said, one of the strong- 
est proofs of his existence; for what would an in- 
stinct, an inclination avail without an object? 

article 3. 

Of the organ of the moral Functions. 

We have just passed in review the class of intel- 
lectual and affective phenomena; they have been ex- 
amined independently of their agent and organ; we 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 179 

must therefore fix our attention for a little while on 
the nature of this agent. 

Metaphysicians make these phenomena proceed 
immediately from the soul itself; they consider 
them as being independent of all material instru- 
ments. Hence the names of metaphysics and psy- 
cology. 

Letpsycologicalactsbetheimmediateresulteither 
of a physical agent, or of an organ, or of an immate- 
rial principle connected with this organ, we can not 
deny their dependence upon the material instrument; 
from this moment they appertain to the class of the 
other functions, and therefore belong to the empiro 
of physiology. 

Without wishing to decide the first question, let 
us try to prove that the moral faculties are influenc- 
ed by the physical organization, and that the latter 
predominates oyer the former. 

The intense exercise of the intellectual and affec- 
tive faculties is accompanied with phenomena, and 
sometimes even with morbid phenomena in the 
head and viscera. 

The alternate state of activity and repose, of ex- 
citation and of languor of these faculties, proves that 
this exercise is subject to the modifications of an 
organized matter. 

Climates, diet, and pharmaceutical treatment, 
professions, age, sex, state of sickness, have an in- 
contestible influence over the several functions. 
We have at every moment evident proofs of it; and 
to restrict ourselves to one fact, who does not know 
the results of the introduction of wine, coffee, or 
poison into the stomach? 

If these functions were distinct from a material 
organ, we should consequently be forced to admit 
that their principle varies for each individual, either 



180 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

man or animal, that each possesses a distinct soul of 
its own. 

The material nature of the instrument of these 
functions, either proximate or distant, seems to be 
incontestible; should we not admit it, they would no 
longer appertain to the class of the physiological 
functions. 

Physiologists are far from agreeing which is the 
material organ or organs of this function. 

I am not aware, at least, that any one of them has 
located the intellectual faculties elsewhere than in 
the brain. It is far from being so with respect to the 
affective faculties. Plato used to ascribe them to the 
viscera; Bordue, Buffon, Cabanis, &c, also placed 
them out of the brain, and in the thoracic and ab- 
dominal viscera; Bichat located them in the organic 
or ganglionic nerves; his opinion is grounded prin- 
cipally on the manifestation of the effects of passions 
and affections towards the viscera; inasmuch as both 
gestures and language refer to them the sensations 
of these functions. But do we perceive the affective 
faculties to be in a just proportion with the develop- 
ment and excitement of these viscera? Georget* 
thinks that this is not the case with the ruminating 
animals who are possessed of four stomachs, a volu- 
minous liver, with an enormous heart and lungs. 
Do we see any change in these faculties with those 
persons who have any affection of the heart or 
liver? Moreover, these phenomena often manifest 
their effects towards different viscera, according to 
the temperament of different persons, and some- 
times throughout the whole economy; thus, for in- 
stance, in fright, there may exist at the same time, a 

* Georg-et's physiology of the nervous system. 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 181 

cerebral disturbance, palpitation of the heart, and 
icterus; in these cases the hair has been observed 
suddenly to turn white, and the skin black; M. 
Rosian records two cases of this kind. Lastly, the 
intellectual phenomena, resting in the brain, may 
also produce similar disturbances in the viscera; Tis- 
sot adduces numerous examples of them in his 
treatise on men of letters. 

We can not too much exert ourselves in combat- 
ing this doctrine, which has been already shaken; 
for in admitting with Bichat the irresistibility of the 
movements of the passions, an irresistibility which he 
compares with that of convulsion, produced by the 
wounding of the brain by a splinter of bone, we are 
led to deny the existence of free will, and to judge 
that passions are not susceptible of being diminished 
or curbed by education. 

The affective faculties, as well as the intellectual, 
have their seat therefore in the encephalon. It is 
their first cause. Is the action of the whole encepha- 
lon necessary for the exercise of the psycological 
functions? Is one of its parts sufficient? or have these 
faculties, each in particular, a part specially apper- 
taining to their production? These are three of the 
most difficult propositions that the science of psyco- 
logy can present. 

The first proposition is untenable. It is very cer- 
tain that distinct portions of the encephalon preside 
over the sensations and over the voluntary move- 
ments, and which are functions of a different order. 

The second has also been advanced. It is noto- 
riously known that Descartes located the soul in 
the pineal gland; others have assigned the corpus 
eallosum as its organ, &c. 

The third has been long maintained. First, most 
16 



182 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C 

psycologists, in admitting in psycology two orders 
of fundamental operations, understanding and vo- 
lition, intelligence and sensation, &c. implicitly 
acknowledged the plurality of organs; for it is evi- 
dent that these different functions required diverse 
organs. The Arabs, says M. Jldelon, placed com- 
77ion sense in the first ventricle, imagination in 
the second, judgment in the third, memory in the 
fourth. Accordingly, as early as the thirteenth 
century, a Bishop of Ratisbon, Jllbert le Grand, 
published that the psycological faculties resided in 
the different ventricles. Willis distinctly announced 
that perception and reflection were seated in the cor- 
pora striata; memory and imagination in the centrum 
ovale of Vieussens, and the source of movements in 
the cerebellum. Since, Bonnet, Cuvier, and Soem- 
mering, have rather inclined towards the plurality 
of organs. 

M. Gall has particularly insisted on this plurali- 
ty of organs; it was an immediate consequence of 
the plurality of the primitive faculties. The facts 
and reasonings which support this first point of 
his doctrine, and that we have already indicated, 
make in favour, a priori, of the admission of the 
plurality of organs. His proofs are drawn from the 
following facts: 

1st. The comparison of the understanding with 
digestion, or sensation in general; (see page 170:) 

2d. The coincidence of the development of a par- 
ticular faculty with that of a particular part of the 
encephalon, in the series of animals, and in their 
different ages; 

3d. The frequent predominance of one faculty 
over the others; 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 183 

4th. The decided preference that men give to this 
favourite faculty; 

5th. Of their aptitude in its exercise; 

6th. The power which enables us to suspend fa- 
tigue, and even indeed to make it a recreation, by 
passing from the exercise of one faculty to that of 
another; 

7th. Monomania, idiotism or partial alienation; 

8th. The lesion of a point of the brain being con- 
stantly followed by the modification of the same 
faculty, &c* 

But it has been objected that we often see effu- 
sions of blood, and local, circumscribed softening, 
(ramoIlisse?nent) without the lesion of one organ in 
particular; but on the contrary we oberve a general 
intellectual disturbance. If we recall to mind (M. 
Georget will answer,) that the different parts of the 
brain are contained, and circumscribed in a cavity 
which does not permit any displacement, it is easy 
to conceive that sympathy and pressure will neces- 
sarily produce in these cases a general lesion of the 
brain. Those who ask how it comes to pass that 
the brain, composed of a substance analogous in all 
its parts, should, however, execute diverse functions, 
we shall cite the nerves of the senses and those of 
movements, which, although having apparently an 
analogous structure, have, nevertheless, different 
uses or functions. 

Although the plurality of organs is still a subject 
of contention, it is, however, better demonstrated 
than their designation, as an agent of any particular 
faculty. 

* See the numerous facts relating" to this subject, in the work 
of M. Gall. 



184 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

The experiments of M. Flourens, on the ence- 
phalon of animals, have only proved that we ought 
to seek these organs in the cerebrum and cerebel- 
lum; indeed this is precisely where M. Gall places 
them. By the citation of facts sufficiently well ob- 
served, but as yet not numerous, the latter author 
thinks himself justified in assigning the occepital 
region to the affective faculties, and the frontal 
to the intellectual. We shall see, while studying the 
different methods of divination of the moral faculties, 
that he has gone still further. 

Recently, my colleagues, Messrs. Pinel Grand- 
champs and Fovillc, resident students de la Salpi- 
triere, have advanced that the cortical substance was 
exclusively the part which produces the moral fa- 
culties; and to the medullary part they ascribe the 
movements. This proposition, although already sup- 
ported by some facts, demands, however, for its de- 
monstration, numerous and attentive researches. 

article 4. 

Of the Sources and Mechanism of the Cerebral 
Functions. 

Ideas and the knowledge of exterior objects are 
transmitted to the brain by the apparatus of the 
senses, without which the brain can not fully exer- 
cise its intellectual operations. This proposition was 
proclaimed by Jiristotle, in that so celebrated axiom: 
nihil est in intellectu quin prius fuerit in sensu. 
PlatOy on the contrary, supposes the ideas of the 
nature of bodies to be innate. According to him, 
bodies have their essence, their model, their image, 
already preconceived in the mind. These images 
may exist therein without its being conscious of 



iNT'ELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 185 

their existence; if they are perceived by the mind, 
it is only by a kind of reminiscence, induced by the 
sensations that these bodies produced on it. Plato 
considers these types as being almost independent of 
the intellect. Descartes goes further; he presumes 
that they are the identical ideas of our intellect. 

From the doctrine of Plato follows that of the 
idealists, according to whom the senses only per- 
ceive objects similar to the preconceived image. 
That of Pyrrho is also a consequence of it. Pyrrho, 
considering the senses as being deceptive, looked 
upon every thing as illusory, and he went so far as 
to doubt of motion, and even of his own existence. 
It is undoubtedly true, that we are only acquainted 
with bodies by the sensations produced within us, 
and compared to ourselves; we are ignorant of the 
essence of their matter. It may be easily conceiv- 
ed that animals, having the senses and a brain differ- 
ently organized from ours, must have a different 
idea of exterior objects, and this may even happen 
to a certain extent with man; there is no doubt also 
that the senses are the agents of the intellect, and 
we can not help believing in their relations, when 
individual and general experience has confirmed 
them. 

The Aristotilian doctrine has since been main- 
tained and defended, by Bacon, Locke and Con- 
dillac. They compared man just born to a blank 
tablet, on which nothing was impressed but what 
the sensations Were able to seize. There are, never- 
theless, numerous notions which seem not to reach 
the mind through the external senses. 

Are the numerous modifications of the mind pro- 
duced by age, sex, hygeanic agents, &c. the neces- 
sary consequences of the harmonic modification of 



186 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

the senses? Is it through the senses that the child 
recognises the nipple and sucks it; that the kid 
chooses the cytisus in a bundle of various plants? 
Is it by them that we shall be able to explain the 
origin of the new desires experienced at the age of 
puberty, the changeableness and caprices of the 
moral faculties at the period of menstruation and of 
pregnancy? 

Cabanis was among the first to draw the attention 
to those facts, and he ascribed their origin to the 
movements of the internal organs, to internal sen- 
sations, which, although unknown to the brain and 
to the self, fmoij produce, nevertheless, new ideas 
in it. 

But we can very well explain by the modifica- 
tions of the brain, primitively occurring under the 
forementioned circumstances, the modifications 
which happened to the intellectual acts. In fact, 
the condition of our intellect is not strictly subor- 
dinate to and connected with the perfection or with 
the acuteness of our senses; the senses and intellec- 
tual acts are united and necessary to each other; the 
former make us acquainted with the material world, 
and furnish the mind with the materials necessary 
for its labour: but the perfection of intellectual labour 
depends upon the development of the dispositions 
of the innate faculties. The sensations produced by 
the external world, are indeed the materials on 
which the functions of the mind are exercised; they 
are in some measure to the brain what aliment is to 
the stomach; but they do not influence exclusively 
these functions. The new born infant is only there- 
fore compared to a blank tablet, in as much as he 
has never received any impressions. The very di- 
versified results, afforded by these functions in vari- 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 187 

ous individuals, have their causation particularly in 
the modifications of the cerebral organization; our 
dispositions are innate, sensations merely present 
them with opportunities of manifesting themselves. 
This is the reason why Leibnitz added to the axi- 
om nihil est in intellectu, &c. these words: nisi 
ipse intellectus. 

Bonnet, Kant and Gall, are the philosophers 
who have adduced the strongest and the most 
numerous proofs in favour of the doctrine of in- 
nate dispositions. They ascribe to them not only 
the intellectual faculties, but the passions also, 
and even what Gall calls affections. For, he re- 
marks, if man is susceptible of joy, discontent, 
pleasure, pain, terror and shame, it is because there 
exist things which in their nature should be loved 
or detested, dreaded or shunned, &c; in a word, 
every thing in us seems to be intended for this ex- 
terior world. 

article 5. 

Of the Circumstances which Modify the Brain, 
and its Functions, 

After the research and determination of the organ 
of the physiological functions, the deviations of or- 
ganization naturally present themselves for our 
study, and the modifications which it experiences 
according to certain circumstances, ages, sexes, tem- 
peraments, peculiar hygienic agents, such as cli- 
mates, diet, profession, education and civilization. 
With idiots the brain is generally small, imperfect 
especially towards the frontal region; and in the 
very rare cases in which the formation does not 
materially depart from that of other men, idiotism 



1SS INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

may be explained by the absence of memory, with- 
out which no ideas are stored up, without which, 
again, we can neither compare nor reason. 

Very few authors contend in our days that the 
brain is not idiopathically or sympathetically altered 
in alienation, and febrile delirium; and that in con- 
sequence of these alterations, it is not modified in 
its functions. 

During foetal life the senses are precluded from 
external impressions; however the brain may be ac- 
cessible to morbid internal sensations, to pain, and 
which may be manifested by movements. 

Immediately after birth, touch exists; the other 
senses successively appear in the following order; 
taste, hearing, sight, smell; in a few weeks they be* 
come more and more perfect. The brain grows 
progressively; according to M. Gall, the cerebel- 
lum, the seat of physical love, begins to grow and 
enters into action at the age of puberty, the period 
of the appearance of this passion. The encephalon 
only acquires its complete development between 
the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. Then the 
intellectual and affective functions have arrived at 
their point of maturity and strength. It is at this 
period that the qualities of the mind are the most 
brilliant, and those of the heart most benevolently 
disposed. The brain preserves for a few years after 
this period its former qualities, but soon participates 
in the general weakness of the other organs. 

However, the experience of old men being greater 
than that of young persons, their judgment being 
less influenced by the passions, they are better cal- 
culated to advise, guide, and govern. Indeed these 
are attributes which have been granted to them in 
all ages. In decrepitude, sensations are blunted, 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 189 

memory is absent, judgment itself is impaired, and 
tend to assimilate itself to what it is in infancy. 

The brain in woman presents a volume and a de- 
velopment of parts, generally different from those 
we find in man. The intellectual faculties predomi- 
nate in man, the affective faculties in woman: she 
feels more than she thinks. It is especially the in- 
stinct of love and attachment that characterize her; 
this is her most charming attribute; this is what 
renders her so interesting in civilized society. She 
consoles herself in the bosom of her family for not 
being able to do much for the advancement of 
science, or to take any part in the administration of 
the state; she finds in it a relief to the humiliations 
and chagrins, with which a master, who is forced 
on her by nature, often overwhelms her. 

The brain is the sole organ of moral functions; it 
is the only organ the modifications of which imme- 
diately cause those of the intelligence; in it only re- 
side the principal organic conditions of the moral 
faculties. If the brain is sometimes influenced by 
the other organs, it is accidentally, momentarily, 
and sympathetically; however, there are physiolo- 
gists who admit the sympathetic influence between 
organs to exist only in a pathological state; they 
contend against that of healthy organs, in other 
words, against the doctrine of temperaments. Ac- 
cording to them, in a healthy state, an organ can 
not produce any change very appreciable in the or- 
ganism, and break the harmony primitively esta- 
blished; the organs (we suppose them always in a 
healthy state) exist and live separately, if we ex- 
cept, remarks M. Georget, the brain; they only 
have a slight influence on their fellow organ of the 
same functions. When the muscular, or digestive 



190 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

organs are observed to have a predominating growth 
over that of the other organs, this growth is con- 
comitant with the cerebral weakness; and let us re- 
mark, that this latter is primordial. In fact, it is 
because the brain is not agitated, fatigued with pro- 
found meditations, and violent passions, that this 
predominance has occurred. 

These groups of characters, that the favourers of 
the doctrine of temperaments ascribe to the ascen- 
dency of the sanguineous system, bilious system, 
&c, sometimes exist, it is true; but then we must 
not seek the cause exclusively in the circulatory 
and bilious organs, which, in a healthy state, have 
separately and individually, little influence over 
organization generally; but it should be referred to 
the brain, which keeps up intimate relations with 
every part of the machine. Thus in children, in 
old men, in idiots, and the insane, we can explain 
the very slight manifestation of temperament by 
the want of energy in the brain ; but it may be asked, 
why the temperament of females, who are not sub- 
ject to vapours, are so little characterized? but why, 
on the contrary, irritable persons, those whose pas- 
sions are violent and strong? why learned men and 
men of letters, plunged in daily meditations, are, as 
it were, stamped with a common character, have 
an attenuated body, and a digestive and a mus- 
cular system little developed? Lastly, Zimmer- 
man, that distinguished observer, leads us to un- 
derstand, in several passages of his works, quoted 
by Georget*, that the characteristics of tempera- 
ments are owing to the influence of the brain; and 
Tissot informs us, positively, that this celebrated 

* See Physiology of the Nervous System, v. 1, page 205. 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 191 

man intended to prove that the different tempera- 
ments of individuals, or even of nations, resided in 
the nervous system. 

The condition of the atmosphere and of localities, 
the difference of which constitutes those of climates, 
powerfully influence the moral state of man. The 
air, the chymical analysis of which has been found 
by experiments, identically the same in every part 
of the globe; and indeed it is only by its being load- 
ed with miasmata, and by its different degrees of 
density, owing to heat and cold, that it exercises its 
influence. 

The distribution of the soil, and the nature of its 
productions, modify the moral qualities of the abori- 
gines. These circumstances, and the surrounding 
objects, naturally invite to the acquirement of that 
kind of knowledge which is relative to them, and 
produce peculiar taste and disposition; the life led 
by the inhabitants of the plains, mountains, and the 
banks of rivers, is too well known to need being 
mentioned here. 

The productions of the mind are impressed with 
a kind of stamp communicated to them by the cli- 
mate; compare, for instance, the poetry inspired by 
beholding the beautiful sky, and smiling landscape 
of the eastern regions, with that elicited by the 
thick fogs, and by the gloomy land, deprived of ve- 
getation, of the Scandinavians. The imagination 
and language of the inhabitants of the east is ardent 
as their sun; whilst those of the northern tribes seem 
to participate in the character of their frozen re- 
gions. 

The modifications of the mind have been material- 
ly influenced by those of the physical properties, 
in the different races or varieties of the human spe- 



192 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

cies. It is now demonstrated that it is but one spe- 
cies, and that, like plants transplanted from one 
climate to another, it has assumed various forms in 
the different regions of our globe; therefore the in- 
fluence of climate over the morals of men must be 
incontestably admitted. 

To climates, special productions are to be referred, 
so that diet, another modifying cause of the physical 
and moral condition of man, is partially subordinate 
to them. Its effects are among the most remarkable, 
according as man uses flesh, condiments or stimulat- 
ing beverages; or according as he shall use white 
meats, vegetables, aqueous drinks, the functions 
will be, generally speaking, active or languid. Who 
is ignorant of the influences of wine and coffee. 

When, by succession of ages, nations have been 
stamped with these modifications, such nations re- 
tain and transmit them by means of generation; 
hence results the moral type of races and of nations. 

The development and force of the organs of our 
economy are increased by exercise; that of the in- 
tellectual organ is no less demanded from man than 
that of the instruments of the other functions; he 
ought only to exercise indefinitely the intellectual 
faculties, and carry them to the highest point of per- 
fection; as to the affective faculties, he ought to cul- 
tivate them all in whatever they present advan- 
tageous to the individual and to society, and curb 
them in those parts which are disadvantageous. 
Education is the science which has for its object the 
attainment of this double aim; it is naturally divided 
into two branches; the one treats of the mind, the 
other of the passions and affections. 

Since life is too short to cultivate all the faculties, 
we ought to select that for the development of which 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 193 

the innate dispositions are the most evident; in this 
consists the great talent of the instructer. Moreover, 
the time employed for the attainment of a know- 
ledge for which the brain has received but little pre- 
disposition, is nearly lost when forced upon a child. 
Education, therefore, ought to be different for both 
sexes; we should seek, particularly, to develope in 
females the moral faculties, and not those of com- 
parative sagacity, of mathematics, &c. We should 
also vary it somewhat for each individual. 

The repetition of the same acts, or exercise, hav- 
ing for their natural consequence the development of 
the organ which executes them, it is evident that the 
more the brain is exercised in the various profes- 
sions of civil life, the more it will become strength- 
ened in the execution of its functions; and as these 
professions have for object, to exercise one faculty 
oftener than the others, this will acquire a positive 
predominance; it is by doing a thing, that we learn 
how to do it well. 

The different degrees of civilization, and religions, 
have also on the functions of the brain an influence 
easily to be conceived; but we shall not treat of them 
in a book of this size. 

article 6. 

Of the means of appreciating the mode and ex- 
tent of the moral faculties. 

The exercise of a function is the easier and more 
regular, as the organ appropriated to it, is more 
extensive, more developed, and at the same time 
more stimulated and excited. 

Such are the two elements, according to which, 
the extent and energy of a function may be valued. 
17 



194 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

We are aware that the first, or the material mag- 
nitude of the organ, is the only one appreciable; 
it is therefore, in order to judge apriori of this de- 
velopment that most of the diverse methods of di~ 
vination of the intelligence have been established. 
However, there is a mode which does not bear upon 
these ideas, it is that of Lavater, who seeks in the 
expression of the physiognomy, the measure of the 
moral and intellectual faculties. Obviously the seal 
of the passions, of mind, or of idiotism and imbe- 
cility, is often stamped on the countenance, which, 
for this reason, was called the mirror of the soul. 
The brain determines the expression of these acts 
by the optic nerves and by those which animate the 
muscles of the nose and mouth. Charles Bell, and 
since, M. Magendie, have proved, that this oc- 
curred principally through the facial nerve.* The 
repetition of the same intellectual operations has in 
consequence that of the same expression of the face, 
and in the course of time a fixed physiognomy may 
be the result. But Lavater has gone too far with his 
system, and most certainly he was wrong to draw 
inductions and native dispositions from the original 
formation of the face. 

We have combated the doctrines of tempera- 
ments; we have proved the slight influence that 
healthy organs exercise over the brain; it would 
therefore be contradictory, and moreover illusory, 
to take the marks of these supposed temperaments 
for those of the mind and of the passions. It is on- 
ly in the degree of the development of the brain, 
that most authors have looked, and with good rea- 
son, for that of the psycological functions. 

* See his Essay read at the Institute. 



INTELLECTUAL FNUCTIONS, &C. 195 

Aristotle formerly considered the absolute devel- 
opment of the encephalon as that of the intellect. Af- 
terwards the volume of the brain compared with 
that of the body was taken as a rule; finally, others, 
at the head of whom we find Soemmering, believe, 
that they have found this measure by comparing the 
cerebral mass with that of the medulla oblongata or 
with that of the nerves. These methods of ascertain- 
ing the relative magnitude of the brain, being of a diffi- 
cult application, can not be laid down as a law, be- 
cause of the numerous exceptions pointed out by 
comparative anatomy. 

Every one is acquainted with the angles by which 
Camper and Daubenton pretended to measure the 
organ of moral functions; the former applied the 
angle on the face, formed it by drawing a horizontal 
line on a level with the foramen magnum occipitis, 
to the superior incisive teeth, where it meets a 
vertical line parallel with the face and forehead; the 
latter drew a line from the inferior margin of the 
orbit to the condyles, and another vertical line from 
these condyles to the sinciput. 

The facial angle of Camper, and the occipital an- 
gles of Daubenton ,* give only by their degree of 
opening, the projection of the brain towards the 
forehead or the occiput; they neither give its height 
nor its breadth. There are circumstances of the 
volume of the brain which cause the opening of those 
angles to vary: such is the thickness of the bones 
relative to both of these methods; and particularly 
for that of Camper, the projection of the maxillary 
bones and of the frontal sinuses. Besides, as may 

* The denomination of these angles is derived from the 
places where they are applied. 



196 INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 

be readily foreseen, even if these methods were well 
founded, they would be capable only of measuring 
respectively, the former the anterior parts, the lat- 
ter, the posterior. According to M. Gall and other 
physiologists, these two parts are respectively al- 
lotted, the one to the intellectual, the other to the 
moral faculties. 

Our much celebrated Curler proposes a sure me- 
thod of judging the extent of the brain; but, unfortu- 
nately, it can not be applied to living animals. He 
proposes the comparison of the extent and figure of 
the area of the cranium and face. For this purpose 
he saws vertically the cranium and the face on the 
median line. This area has been found larger in the 
European; it diminishes in the Calmuck, the Ne- 
gro, &c. 

M. Gall y in a celebrated system, abandoning the 
consideration of the brain as a whole, has sought to 
appreciate, by the examination of the extent of sur- 
face, and of projection of the various departments, 
that he assigns to our faculties, our proneness, or 
our aptitude for this or that faculty; hence the 
names of craniology, cranioscop}^, that he has be- 
stowed on them. 

In admitting as indisputable the demonstration of 
the plurality of the organs, and assignation of their 
seat, the idea is consistent with reason; for the era 
nium is moulded over the brain, at least as long as 
the latter has not acquired its full growth. When the 
brain undergoes any modifications in its volume in 
old age, it is only on the internal table that it is per- 
ceptible, and not on the external: therefore this art 
can not be applied to old persons. Again, the irre- 
gularity of the muscular and bony projections ren- 
ders it of a very difficult application. Indeed our 



INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS, &C. 197 

philosopher, being aware of these difficulties of the 
three fundamental points of his doctrine, this latter 
is the one on which he insisted the least; however, 
he has brought forward so many facts relating to 
the following propositions, that many persons admit 
them: 

1st. The cranium of idiots is principally depress- 
ed on the anterior parts. 

2dly. That of woman presents a larger develop- 
ment towards the occiput, the seat of the affective fa- 
culties, than towards the forehead, which is the seat 
of the intellect. 

3dly. Most men of great genius have a vast fore- 
head: the inspection of antique statues leads us to 
believe that this fact had not escaped the sagacious 
observation of the ancients. But when an attempt is 
made to enter into the details of cranioscopy, M. Gall 
confesses his incapacity and the fallibility of this 
science, in most cases; in this respect, the ideas of 
this great observer have been singularly exaggerat- 
ed, and very bitterly and unjustly criticised. 



IT 



196 LOCOMOTION 



CHAPTER III. 



OF LOCOMOTION OR VOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS. 

The name of locomotion has been given to the 
functions by which man, from the impulse of his will, 
moves his body in part or altogether in order to es- 
tablish relations with the beings surrounding him. 

article 1. 

Locomotive Apparatus. 

This apparatus in man is composed of passive or- 
gans, (the bones,) and of active organs, (the muscu- 
lar and nervous apparatus.) 

Bo7ies. This name is given to an assemblage of 
hard organs, united with each other by bands which 
form of them a whole, giving to the body, of which 
it is the frame, its shape and solidity. They are 
divided, according to their form, into flat bones, 
particularly intended to form the splanchnic cavities; 
into long bones and short bones, which are met 
with especially in the limbs. Their surface pre- 
sents to our consideration, 1st, eminences or pro- 
cesses which are distinguished, according to their 
use, into articular and processes of insertion, of 
reflection and impression; 2dly, cavities which are 
likewise divided into articular, and into cavities of 
imp?*ession, of insertion, of reception, &c. 



LOCOMOTION 199 

Bones are composed of an areolar organic tissue, 
in which is deposited an earthy salt to which they 
owe their hardness; they receive arteries, veins and 
nerves. They are covered, on their exterior, by a 
fibrous membrane called periosteum. The interior 
of bones is filled with porosities and often is hollow- 
ed into a canal which is lined with a cellulo-vascu- 
lar membrane, which contains the medullary fat. 

The places where the bones come in contact with 
each other, assume the name of articulations; never- 
theless, Soemmering gives this name to those only, 
which execute movements. They are generally 
divided, 1st, into synarthrosis, which compre- 
hends sutures and gomphosis; 2dly, into amphiar- 
throsis; when the bones are united by a fibro-cale- 
tagenous substance; 3dly, into diarthrosis, which 
includes the enarthrosis, arthrodia, planiform, diar- 
throsis, ginglymus and trochoides. Generally speak- 
ing, a thin cartilaginous lamina tips the articular 
surfaces, which are sometimes separated by fibro- 
cartilaginous plates, and which are held in their 
places by fibrous attachments; generally, a synovial 
membrane also lines the interior of the articulation 
and favours its motion. 

The union of all the bones constitutes a movable 
frame, which gives support to all the other parts of 
the body. We consider in it, with respect to loco- 
motion, the head, which is articulated in a movable 
manner at the extremity of a long osseous column, 
composed of a series of small bones, united with 
each other by a very strong fibro-cartilage, which 
admits only limited motion, and which, however, 
being multiplied by each division, permits a very 
considerable movement of the whole shaft; this co- 
lumn, called spinal, is the principal lever of the 



200 LOCOMOTION. 

body; it is intrusted to support anteriorly, capacious 
splanchnic cavities, and to transmit their weight to 
the inferior or abdominal extremities; it contains, 
within its canal, the most important part of the 
nervous locomotive system. The inferior extremi- 
ties are species of folding columns intended to trans- 
mit to the ground the weight of the body; the su- 
perior or thoracic extremities, on the contrary, are 
truly the organs of apprehension: they are levers 
breaking into folds, which allow of very extensive 
and very multiplied motions. 

Of muscles. These include all the parts of the 
animal, which execute the contraction, on which 
movements depend; they are composed of fasciculi, 
more or less voluminous, and more or less red, at- 
tached by their extremities to the surface of bones 
to which they impart motion. We are already 
aware that the muscular fibre is one of the three 
elementary tissues; let us now see what has been 
said of its intimate nature. Heister, Coivper, Wil- 
lis, Hamberger, &c. entertained the opinion that it 
was hollow; some believe that it contains a spongy 
matter; others think that this fibre mingles with the 
nerves; others again believe it to be solid, and this 
last opinion has prevailed. 

It is from the assemblage of these elementary 
fibres that the muscular fasciculi result, the power 
of which is relative to their volume and to their 
length; their extremities terminate in tendons, or 
aponeuroses; they never attach themselves to the 
bones without the intermedium of these parts; and 
they receive a great quantity of blood vessels and 
nerves. 

Of nerves. The nervous system, which animates 
the muscles, comprehends the spinal marrow and 



LOCOMOTION. 201 

the nerves which arise from it; and, moreover, ac- 
cording to some authors, who ground their opinion 
on that of M. Flour ens, the cerebellum, is the re- 
gulator or the organ which rules movements; final- 
ly, the brain itself, by the fact that it regulates all 
the voluntary actions, participates also in locomo- 
tion, as is demonstrated by a multitude of experi- 
ments and morbid alterations; but determination 
seems to be particularly allotted to it. We have 
treated of this subject elsewhere. (See the article 
of sensations. 

Of muscular contraction generally. 

According to the various opinions that physiolo- 
gists have formed for themselves of the nature of 
the muscular fibre, they have built up different hy- 
potheses about the nature of its contraction; thus, 
those who have considered this fibre as being tubu- 
lar, have concluded that its contraction is solicited 
by its being filled with blood or with nervous spi- 
rit, or by an effervescence being developed in its 
cavity. Haller believed that contraction w T as a 
property inherent in muscles; the ancients explain- 
ed this phenomenon by a mechanical traction of 
the muscular fibre exerted by the nerves; it is well 
known that the researches of Messrs. Dumas and 
Prevost lead to this opinion. 

From this diversity of opinions we may conclude, 
that the nature of contraction is unknown; let us 
therefore confine ourselves to what observation de- 
monstrates. When a muscle contracts, we observe 
the following phenomena: 1st, its extremities draw 
nearer to each other, consequently its fibres shorten; 
2d, it often acquires a very considerable hardness, 



202 LOCOMOTION. 

and very great strength; 3d, it is still believed that 
it augments in thickness, notwithstanding the con- 
tradictory experiments of Borclli, Gtisson, &c; 
4th, the intensity of its contraction varies at plea- 
sure, anger imparts to it energy; 5th, the bones obey 
passively these contractions in the direction admit- 
ted by their articulation; 6th, finally^ the muscles 
are fatigued, need repose, and relax; nevertheless, 
some authors consider the relaxation of the fibre as 
being an active state, but we are aware that very 
often muscles fall into this condition in spite of our 
will; 7th, we can still add among the positive facts, 
that the integrity of the arteries and nerves, which 
are distributed to a muscle, is indispensably neces- 
sary to its action. 

article 2. 

Of Station. 

This is a function which is either passive or ac- 
tive, by which the different parts of the body are 
kept stationary, and consequently the under parts 
are constrained to bear the superincumbent weight. 
The position is passive when the body is stretched 
at full length on the ground; it is active when the 
trunk is borne on its inferior extremities. 

Biped Station. Man docs not form a single 
lever from head to foot; he presents a great number 
of joints, which constantly tend to refuse each other 
mutual assistance. The head, fixed on the vertebral 
column, presents a lever of the first order, the main 
shaft of which is directed forward, so that it tends 
to flex in this direction; but the numerous muscles 
of the posterior part of the neck, and the posterior 
cervical ligament, maintains it in equilibrium. The 



LOCOMOTION. 203 

spine: the superior limbs, the enormous weight of 
the organs contained in the thorax and abdomen, 
finally, the head itself, weigh on the vertebral 
column, and would inevitably bend it forward, if to 
the solidity of its organization were not added nu- 
merous muscles extending all along its posterior 
sides, counterbalancing the weight of the anterior 
parts. The inferior vertebrae are fixed to the sa- 
crum; they successively serve afterwards as a point 
of support to the superior; each of these vertebra 
separate^ represents a lever of the first order, which 
tends to carry it forward, the fulcrum being their 
fibro-cartilage union, and the power the muscles 
which are inserted in their apophyses, and which 
counterbalance the weight fixed on its anterior part; 
by this mechanism the spinal column is converted 
into one single lever, which transmits all the weight 
of the superior parts, through the medium of the 
sacrum, to the pelvis, which is articulated with the 
latter in an immoveable manner; so that we may 
very well consider it as a base added to the great 
lever of the spine. 

The trunk stands in equilibrium on two rounded 
pivots {the heads of the femurs); but this equi- 
librium is owing to the combination of several 
powers; on the one hand, the inclination of the pel- 
vis, and the weight of the superior parts gives again 
to the body a tendency to fall forward; but on the 
other hand, the large muscles of the buttocks, and 
the flexors of the leg, counterbalance advantageously 
this improper tendency. 

The femur transmits to the tibia the weight it has 
just received; the articulation of these two bones, 
although pretty solid, would nevertheless be too 
narrow to form a base capable of maintaining the 



204 LOCOMOTION. 

equilibrium; and the thigh would flex on the leg if 
this effect were not prevented by the extensor mus- 
cles of the leg. Here the muscles act as a lever of 
the third order, and almost parallel to the bones; 
however, the patella in some measure diminishes 
this inconvenience. 

The weight of the body falls perpendicularly upon 
the tibio-tarsal articulation, which is narrow and 
very movable; thus the body again inclines to fall 
forwards. In this case the body is indebted to the 
muscles of the calf of the leg for retaining its verti- 
cal position. 

Finally, the foot transmits to the ground the 
whole weight of the body. Its anatomical struc- 
ture and its breadth, are very well calculated to in- 
sure the solidity of the standing position, in which, 
moreover, it takes an active part; it presents, in 
fact, a slight concavity from before backwards, and 
contracts as it were to grasp the ground. 

Such are the muscular actions which keep up the 
body in a vertical situation; we might likewise con- 
sider them from below upwards, and we could then 
perhaps appreciate even better, the mutual support 
or assistance they lend each other. 

We are aware, in mechanics, that a body retains 
its erect position whenever the part on which it 
rests on the ground is sufficiently extensive for the 
vertical line of this body to fall in the space circum- 
scribed by its base; and the station is the more solid 
the larger the base. This law is applicable to man, 
and we remark in him a series of bases laid over 
each other, which become larger in proportion as 
we descend lower down, so that they represent a 
kind of pyramid; but a very remarkable circum- 
stance is, that they become larger principally on the 



LOCOMOTION. 205 

side where the body has a tendency to fall; which 
may be easily ascertained by considering the rela- 
tions of situation and of proportion which exist 
between the atlas, the sacrum, the interval be- 
tween the two acetabula, that of the two femurs; 
finally, that again which is circumscribed by the 
feet. These bases, in fact, are more and more ante- 
rior and capacious. 

Notwithstanding what some philosophers have 
observed, the erect station is natural to man. The 
horizontal situation of the occipital condyles; the 
weakness of the muscles of the neck, and of the 
cervical ligament; the direction of the face, eyes, 
and nostrils; the aliments which, in the position of 
quadrupeds, would fall from the mouth; the cover- 
tures of the vertebral column, which extend the 
limits of the centre of gravity in the erect position; 
the length of the inferior extremities, &c. All his 
organization concur to prove this assertion. 

Soliped Station. It is very difficult and not firm, 
and the reason is because the base, being very nar- 
row, the trunk bends on one side; at this time the 
corresponding muscles of the hip must then display 
their utmost energy. 

Kneeling. The body rests on the patella, the 
base of sustentation is extended backwards, but do 
not exist forward; hence the extensor muscles of the 
trunk are soon overcome. 

Sitting Positioft. The weight of the body is 
transmitted to the ground through the pelvis. This 
station is very fatiguing for the abdominal muscles 
when we sit on the ground without any thing to 
lean against; it is less fatiguing when sitting on a 
high seat: in this case, the body has less tendency 
to bend backwards; finally, when there is a back to 
18 



206 LOCOMOTION. 

the seat, this position is preferred by man whilst 
awake: it is almost passive. 

When to this position we add the flexion of the 
thighs and legs, and that the hands are crossed over 
these parts, then the position is called squatting. 

Standing on the head. It can not occur but with 
the help of the arms, which then circumscribe a 
large base of sustentation. 

The recumbent posture requires no muscular ex- 
ertion. 

Walking is the ordinary mode of progression; 
for this effect each of our inferior limbs is alternate- 
ly carried forward, whence results the step; their 
succession constitutes walk; the mechanism is as 
follows: man slightly bends forward on one of his 
limbs, then he successively flexes the articulations 
of the other; the foot is withdrawn from the ground, 
is carried forward, and is again laid down, begin- 
ning with the heel; the body soon inclines over 
the other limb, which is now anterior: afterwards 
the one which remained behind leaves the ground, 
its articulations are flexed, and by movements ana* 
logous to the preceding, is carried in its turn and 
placed before the other. In the meantime, the 
pelvis performs alternate movements of rotation on 
the head of the femurs, a succession of which forms 
zig-zags, very remarkable in females, on account 
of the width of their pelvis. Walking backward 
is performed nearly in the sam^manner, with the 
exception that the leg is carried backwards, then 
the toe is the first to touch the ground. When we 
ascend, the limb which is carried forward must 
raise the body contrary to the law of gravitation; 
for this effect the muscles of the thigh are strongly 
contracted; but this movement is commonly aided 
by inclining the body forward by the action of the 



LOCOMOTION, 

anterior muscles of the trunk, which then contract 
the chest and induce panting. 

In descending, the flexion of the limbs is not so 
great; the feet are drawn downwards by gravitation.; 
and the body would fall forward, if it were not for 
the continual contraction of the posterior muscles of 
the trunk, which Tenders this mode of progression 
fatiguing. 

In all these different kinds of progression theline 
of the centre of gravity is alternately transferred 
from one limb to the other, and the arms perform 
the office of levers.. 

Leaping. The body of man may be propelled 
in the manner of passive projectiles, by the sudden 
and as it were convulsive expansion of the articu- 
lations which have been previously flexed. The 
head, the trunk, the pelvis, the thighs and the legs 
are flexed; the extensor muscles are all at once vio- 
lently contracted, especially in the inferior ex- 
tremities, and produce an effort of projection whicn 
raises the body from the ground in a perpendicular 
direction. If in effecting this instantaneous straight- 
ening of the joints, the trunk be inclined in any di- 
rection whatever, the body is not only raised from 
the ground, but it describes a curve which conveys 
it to a greater or lesser distance. This kind of leap- 
ing is generally preceded by a run. Borelli com- 
pares leaping in man* to the distension of a watch- 
spring suddenly distending. Barthez thinks, con- 
trary to the opinion of this physician, that the 
ground has no influence in the production of this 
phenomenon; nevertheless we jump very w T ell from 
an elastic surface, and very indifferently from a mov- 
able sand, &c. 

Running, Some physiologists have considered 



208 LOCOMOTION. 

it to be a series of alternate leaps; and most of them 
regard it as the result of the two preceding exercis- 
es, walking and jumping; this is evidently what we 
shall prove by its mechanism. At first, the body is 
slightly bent forwards, one of the limbs is thrust 
quickly forward, and while it is yet in the air, the 
other instantaneously extends its joints, conse- 
quently it imparts a movement of projection to the 
body; from this moment the limb carried forward 
falls to the ground, receiving all the weight of the 
body, and is immediately withdrawn from it by a 
mechanism analagous to the preceding, i. e. in 
quickly contracting to throw the centre of gravity 
on the other leg. 

Thus, independently to steps similar to those con- 
stituting walking, we observe in running the move- 
ment of projection, during which the centre of 
gravity is moved along suspended in the air. Most 
of the muscles, which fix the lumbar regions and the 
pelvis, receive their point of support on the chest; 
hence the shortness and acceleration of respiration. 

Of Swimming. This is a mode of progression 
less natural to man than the preceding; his physical 
organization has not been calculated on the laws of 
hydrostatics; its specific gravity is generally great- 
er than that of water; thus the science of swimming 
consists in multiplying the surface of the body by 
extensive motions so as to displace a greater volume 
of this liquid. 

Whilst the body is extended on its anterior sur- 
face, it advances on the water in the following man- 
ner: the hands drawn before the chest, are extend- 
ed out forming a point; the thighs and legs, at first 
flexed, are briskly extended, strike the water back- 
wards, and thus impart a slight movement of pro- 
gression to the body; at the same time the superior 



LOCOMOTION. 20*9 

limbs are extended, pressing the wave in the man- 
ner of an oar, the legs are drawn near, parallel to 
each other; then when the progression takes place, 
the limbs are again flexed and brought back to the:r 
former position; the superior limbs, in the mean- 
while, describe a circle which press the water under 
the trunk, and raise it more or less over its surface. 
The muscles of the spine are in a continual state of 
contraction in order to fix the vertebral column and. 
raise up the head. Swimming on the back requires 
little or no exertion; the anterior muscles of the 
trunk only are slightly contracted, 

article 3. 

Mechanism of the upper Limbs, 

They have justly been considered as the organs 
of apprehension; in fact, the superior limbs unite 
to a pretty considerable force, an astonishing mo- 
bility, either in the shoulder, the movements of 
which are very extensive, or at the elbow where 
the two bones move on each other by numerous 
muscles, or finally at the hand, the extraordinary 
mobility of which is so great a resource in the arts, 
Where is the stubborn man who will stiil maintain, 
that these limbs are intended for walking, while 
we behold the delicacy of the movements. of the fin- 
gers in drawing, writing, and music? In the action 
of pushing, pulling, grasping, squeezing, carry* 
ing, parrying, &c, the-superior limbs are in a state 
of greater or lesser activity; but it is not the object 
of this work to enter into the description of each oi 
these movements in particular; however, it will be 
easy to remedy it by the knowledge we have al- 
ready acquired of the mechanism of man, 
18* 



-210 EXPRESSIONS^ 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF EXPRESSIONS. 



Man, above all animals, enjoys the faculty of ex- 
pressing his sentiments, and of manifesting his pas- 
sions^ his expressive means are gesture and speech. 

ARTICLE 1. 

Gesture. 

This name is given to the silent, and as it were, 
automatical expression of our sentiments; the face 
is the principal seat of this language of action, the 
multiplicity of muscles which compose it, and the 
particular organs which are met with in it render it 
very well calculated for this purpose. The infinite- 
ly varied movements of the forehead, eyes, eye- 
brows, lips, &c, the change of colour and of tem- 
perature of these parts suffice to keep up long con- 
versations, and to express the most tender feelings. 
In a word, the face, as it is commonly remarked, is 
the mirror of the soul. The gait, the attitudes, the 
movements of the limbs, tho state of respiration, 
are also as many phenomena which betray our pas- 
sions. 

From these various gestures spring a peculiar 
language, which is called affective or involuntary; 
it is composed, as we observe, of a great number of 



EXPRESSIONS, 211 

phenomena which unavoidably occur in us, and 
which disclose the state of the heart and of the 
mind. Are not laughter, smiling, crying, sob- 
bing, sighing, gaping, looking, pause, fyc, expres- 
sive of gaiety, sorrow, love, ennui, terror, hatred, 
despair, jealousy, fyc? 

In vain should we seek to dissemble these mimick 
phenomena; they break forth in spite of ourselves, 
but in different degrees, according to the state of 
sensibility. Their cause is unknown. M. Gall 
thinks, that their production has some relation with 
the state of the organ in which is produced the sen- 
timent that induced them. In some cases gestures 
are voluntary; they ordinarily accompany speech, 
and then constitute a part of conventional language, 

ARTICLE 2. 

Of Voice and of Speech. 

The voice is a sound produced by the vibrations 
of the air expelled from the lungs, modulated by 
the larynx. 

Organ of the voice. The experiments of Bichat, 
and the observations of fistulous opening of the tra- 
chea, collected by Magendie and /. Cloquet, in 
which the voice was produced only when the fistu- 
lous openings were perfectly closed, prove, in an 
incontestable manner, the larynx to be the organ of 
the voice. 

The larynx is a small hollow symmetrical ap- 
paratus, composed of an assemblage of parts mova- 
ble upon each other, placed on the median line of 
the neck, below the os-hyoideus, on a level with 
which it opens in the back part of the mouth; it is 
continuous with the cavity of the trachea. There 



EXPRESSIONS. 

enters into its organization cartilages articulated 
with each other in a movable manner, ligaments, 
muscles, membranes, vessels, nerves and glands. 

The cavity of this organ presents the instrument 
proper to the voice; it is composed of a triangular 
nssure, capable of various dimensions {the glottis), 
and the sides of which are formed of four membra- 
nous folds known under the name of vocal cords; 
two of these folds are superior and form the open- 
ing of the larynx; they are separated from the two 
.nferior by two small scaphoid excavations, called 
the ventricle of Morgagni; all these parts are lined 
with a mucous membrane. 

Phonation or voice, The air, expelled from the 
chest in expiration, reaches the larynx, where it 
meets with the vocal cords, which are then more or 
less extended by the internal muscles of this organ; 
it receives in its passage vibrations from which the 
sounds result, then it escapes through the mouth 
and nasal passages. Galen, Fabricius, {Jj^Jlqua- 
■pendente,) and Dodart, established that the air, as 
we have just remarked, was the sonorous body; 
Ferrein considered, on the contrary, sound as pro- 
ceeding from the vibrations of the vocal cords, and 
consequently compared the larynx to a stringed in- 
strument, M. Richerand believes that these two 
causes may be united for the production of this phe*- 
nomenon, whilst most physicians consider the la- 
rynx as a wind instrument with a reed or mouth 
piece; such is also the opinion entertained by M. 
Magendie. According to this opinion, the glottis 
represents the reed or mouth-piece of the instru- 
ment. 

Power of sound. This is, as we know, subject* 
to a certain degree, to the will, but the quantity of 



EXPRESSIONS. 213 

the air expired, the diameter of the larynx, and the 
disposition of the parts through which the sound 
escapes, are so many causes which singularly modi- 
fy its power; thus, for instance, in females, the capa- 
city of whose chest, and the diameter of the larynx, 
are less than in men, the voice is also much more 
delicate. 

Tone. The human voice is susceptible of a mul- 
titude of inflexions, which constitute different tones. 
Galen ascribed the variations of the voice to vari- 
ous lengths of the trachea, and to the degree of oc- 
lusion of the glottis; Dodart acknowledged this 
last cause only; Ferrein attributed them to the ex- 
tent and degree of tension of the vocal cords, and 
hence the different number of vibrations produced 
in a given time. Messrs. Biot and Magendie have 
observed the reality of these vibrations; they com- 
municate moreover a tremor to the larynx, and of 
which we may convince ourselves by producing 
deep sounds; the degree of opening of the mouth 
evidently influences also the variations of the voice. 
The extent of the human voice embraces nearly 
three octaves. 

Timbre.* It varies infinitely; thus the voice of 
women is sweeter, and possesses something more 
touching than that of men, the principal character 
of which is coarseness: physiologists are entirely 
ignorant of the causes of these phenomena. 

Ventriloquism. This is a peculiar and extreme- 

* There is no word in the English language which conveys 
precisely the meaning of the French word timbre, tune does 
not translate it; but it means the peculiar quality of the voice, 
or the peculiar quality of sound of a metal, hence, the timbre 
of a bell, 8cc_, Trans, 



214 EXPRESSIONS. 

iy remarkable illusion of the voice, which, according 
to Messrs. Dumas and Richerand, is owing to the 
sound being at first formed in the larynx, and then 
re-echoed in the chest, whence it issues slowly. 
The voice has evidently sympathies with the sexual 
organs; it is a remarkable fact that the castratos 
have an effeminate voice, while erotic women ac- 
quire the coarse voice of men, &c. 

Of speech. This is nothing else than the voice 
articulated by the various parts which compose the 
mouth, and especially by the movements of the 
cheeks, lips and tongue. Here we are struck with ad- 
miration in thinking what must have been the power 
of the human intellect, in order to be able to associate 
our ideas to a collection of articulated sounds, words, 
ihe union of which forms language, properly so 
called, or conventional language; but so far we 
speak only to our contemporaries, it was necessary 
to communicate with future ages, and it is again to 
his genius that man is indebted for this great step 
towards his perfection. For this effect, words have 
been reduced to a certain number of elementary 
sounds which have been represented by signs or 
letters, the union of which constitutes writing, 
Letters are divided into vowels, the pronunciation 
of which is soft and natural, and into consonants 
harsh and difficultto pronounce; hence, consequently, 
the harshness of the language in which these latter 
abound; and on the contrary, the softness, delicacy, 
and harmony of those which employ most vowels. 
Sometimes man expresses his passions by singing, 
or modulated voice, with or without w T ords; decla* 
motion is a modification of it; every one is aware 
of the power of these means of expression. 

There exist, in pronunciation, -sounds which are 



EXPRESSIONS. 215 

sometimes defective, owing to several imperfec- 
tions, as mal-conformation of the roof of the mouth, 
or the uvula, the loss of teeth, and often to education. 
&c. These defects consist in stammering, lisping, 
stuttering, &c. Dumbness consists in a total pri- 
vation of speech: it may either be congenital or ac- 
cidental 



216 SLEEP. 



CHAPTER V. 



OF SLEEP. 



Sleep may be defined to be the state of repose of 
the organs of the senses and of voluntary move- 
ments, or the periodical and temporary suspension 
of the functions which establish our relations with 
the exterior world, during which man repairs the 
losses which he has sustained, and recovers the fa- 
culty of acting. 

When watching has been protracted fifteen or 
eighteen hours, a lapse of time however variable, 
according as the body has undergone more or less 
muscular or intellectual fatigue; according to habit 
and age; lastly, according to the presence or absence 
of exterior or interior exciting causes, we experience 
a peculiar, indescribable sensation, but which every 
one knows by experience, {want of sleep;) the body 
feels wearied, the sensations are benumbed, the 
superior extremities are stretched out, the eyelids 
close, respiration slackens, and is accompanied with 
yawning; all these sensations are soon extinguished, 
the intellectual and moral faculties are obliterated, 
the body assumes a posture semi-flexed, and in such 
a manner that all the parts may be mechanically 
supported by the ground. 

Man in this condition has lost every conscious- 
ness of his existence, he is asleep. From this mo- 



SLEEP- 217 

merit he no longer exists but for himself, his vege- 
tative or organic functions still continue; it is even 
believed that they increase in energy; digestion is 
more active, respiration deeper, the pulse slower, 
but full; absorption, nutrition, and secretions are 
more active (motus in somno intrd vergunt, som- 
nus labor visceribus. — Hipp.) It was probably 
owing to this reason the ancients took their princi- 
pal meal in the evening; it is perhaps for the same 
cause that animals go to sleep after having eaten, 
&c; nevertheless, caloric is evidently diminished 
during sleep, (cwra somntts invaserit, corpus fn- 
gescit, — Hipp.) Such is the condition of the or- 
ganism during this precious rest; in the course of 
seven or eight hours there results a favourable 
change, which is manifested in all the functions at 
the moment of awaking; this moment is announc- 
ed by the successive return of intelligence, internal 
and external sensations, and by muscular action; 
stretchings, gaping, and sighing, call for the nervous 
influx in all the parts, and completely dissipate tor- 
por; at this time wants are felt, and particularly 
those which invite to evacuate the various secre- 
tions; finally, man returns again as it were to life, 
with renovated energy. 

The duration of sleep has no determined period: 
it varies infinitely; first, according to age:* thus 
children sleep more than adults, and these latter 

* Buffon, M. Richerand, and other physiologists, believed 
that the child sleeps continually during" the nine months which 
precede its birth; i. e. during- its intra-uterine life. But not- 
withstanding the imposing opinion of these great men, I be- 
lieve, that in order to be able to go to sleep, there must first 
exist physical losses which require restoration; in fact, we 
must have previously been awake, 
' 19 



218 SLEEP. 

than old men; 2dly, according to habit; 3dly, ac- 
cording to the physical and intellectual activity of 
the preceding day: men sleep always longer in pro- 
portion as labour has been longer borne and more 
intense, because the losses and exhaustion have 
been greater; 4thly, finally, according as the nerv- 
ous system is in a more or less complete state of 
repose. 

The soundness of sleep is no less variable; and 
with reference to this we may distinguish it into 
complete sleep; it is the one already described; and 
into incomplete, that is to say, the one during which 
some animal or intellectual acts are performed; such 
are the irregular movements which agitate the body, 
dreams which are nothing more ordinarily than a 
mere incoherent labour of the brain, without the 
will participating in it. Hence, an association of 
ideas more or less fantastical, often relating to the 
intellectual and physical labours of the preceding 
day. Dreams are sometimes accompanied in some 
persons with expressive phenomena. Finally, in 
some circumstances the functions of relation seem 
to preserve their integrity, and to be directed by 
the mind; this constitutes somnambulism, which 
has elicited observations as surprising as extraor- 
dinary. 

The explanation of the nature of sleep, has given 
rise to several hypotheses. Aristotle ascribed it to 
the cooling of the heart, by the absence of a humidity 
which was before carried to the brain. Homer and 
Plato considered it as the rest of the soul, requir- 
ed by the fatigues of the preceding clay. Willis as- 
cribed it to the compression of the brain. Modern 
phvsiologists, who admit the opinion, question whe- 
ther the compression is active or passive. M. 



SLEEP. 219 

Broussais is of the former opinion, vflvicenna be- 
lieved that there was a suspension in the action of 
the animal spirits. Most physiologists of our days, 
ascribe sleep to too great an expenditure of the sen- 
sitive and locomotive principle; finally, some au- 
thors, in common with Barthez, consider sleep as 
an active function, (somnus est functio activa 
principii vitalis;) but we have already remarked 
that the character of a function was to possess an in- 
strument or organ; where are we to look for that of 
sleep? 



SECOND CLASS. 

JUNCTIONS WHICH ARE SUBSERVIENT TO THE PRE- 
SERVATION OF THE SPECIKS. 



CHAPTER I 



OF GENERATION. 

The functions which we have just treated of 
show, in their relation, an admirable foresight of na- 
ture to secure the existence of the individual; but 
this was not sufficient to perpetuate the human spe- 
cies; having condemned him to die, she was obliged 
to provide for his reproduction; hence, after the 
preservation of the individual, she has bestowed all 
her solicitude in a more important one, that of the 
species. Generation, an admirable faculty, without 
which the universe would no longer exist, is trusted 
to organs belonging to both sexes; of which they 
establish the principal differences; it comprehends 
or embraces several distinct stages, copulation^ 
pregnancy, and lactation. 

article 2. 

A. Genital Apparatus of Man 

It is composed of the organs of fecundation. 
and those of copulation; we shall examine them 
briefly. 



GENERATION. 221 

Testicles, These are two ovoidal glands, situated 
below the pubis in a prolongation of the skin, called 
scrotum. Their parenchyma, like that of the other 
glands, is composed of blood vessels, which bring to 
them the materials of secretion, and of excretory 
vessels. These are very small, winding, very flexu- 
ous, and are named seminiferous; their number being 
62,500; their diameter is the two hundredth part of 
an inch; we observe on their surface, at a little dis- 
tance from each other, small swellings, which have 
been considered as glandular; they all direct their 
course towards the superior part of the gland, where 
they unite in a whitish canal, (the corpus hygmo- 
rianum;) finally, the single canal, which results from 
their union, is a great many times convoluted on it- 
self, forms, in this manner, a small oblong body, 
which is, as it were, superadded to the testicle, and 
is called, for this reason, the epididymis. It is from 
its inferior extremity that arises the cord which 
suspends the whole organ in its membranes; this 
cord results from the union of the spermatic vessels 
and nerves, and the excretory canal. 

The parenchyma of the testicles is inclosed in a 
dense and strong fibrous membrane, {tunica albu- 
ginea testis,) which sends prolongations into its in- 
terior; it is besides contained within a membranous 
bag, formed, 1st, by the tunica vaginalis testis, an 
isolated continuation of the peritoneum; 2d, by the 
cremaster muscle, arising from the inferior fibres 
of the internal oblique; 3d, by the dartos, a fibro- 
cellular layer, forming the partition which divides 
the two testicles; 4th, and lastly, by the skin which 
forms the scrotum, properly so called. 

Vas deferens. This is the name given to the 
excretory canal of the testicles; it is acontinuation of 
19* 



222 GENERATION. 

that formed by the epididymis convoluted on itself 
After being separated from the testicles, it reascends 
with the vessels towards the inguinal canal, which 
it follows: when arrived in the abdomen, it plunges 
into the pelvis, and directs its course to the inferior 
and posterior part of the bladder; at last, it reaches 
the prostate, the excretor canal of the vesiculae 
seminalis opens into it, then it is continued and as- 
sumes the name of ejaculator duct to the prostate 
portion of the urethra, in which it empties with and 
near its fellow of the opposite side. Its caliber is 
very small and its parietes very thick. 

Vesiculse seminales. These are two small areo- 
lar bags situated behind the prostate, beneath the 
lower fundus (bas-fond,) of the bladder, and exte- 
rior to the vasa deferentia; their cavity is very 
winding, their external parietes are formed by a 
contractile fibrous coat* within by a mucous mem- 

* Early in March, 1828, while dissecting a very stout and 
muscular negro, and before having- read this passage, I met 
with a complete muscular coat (in the manner of a cremaster) 
around the vesiculse seminales,- sewing 1 , no doubt, as a com- 
pressor to the same; arising- about the neck and terminating in 
the fundus: moreover, I have also observed a sphincter to the 
excretory ducts of the ves-iculse seminales and vasa deferentia, 
and a coat of muscular fibres along the vas deferens, beginning at 
its entrance into the prostate gland, and embracing it on all sides 
likeahollow cone; but, not extending beyond one ortwo inches. 
I have since read in Cuvier's Comparative Anatomy, (vol. 5, 
organs of generation) where he describes the vesiculse semi- 
nales of the elephant, the following passage illustrative of the 
muscle I found in this subject: " On the internal and anterior 
side of each of these bladders is observed a peculiar muscle, 
which arises from their neck and extends to the middle, the 
fibres of which diverge in proportion as they ascend. This 
muscle contracts the vesiculse seminales, by drawing their fun- 
dus towards their neck, and in this manner, causes the liquor 



GENERATION 223 

brane; from their anterior extremity arises a very- 
short duct which immediately unites with the vas 
deferens. These small bladders serve as a reservoir 
to the sperm; however, the fluid, which they habi- 
tually contain, differs from it in appearance. 

The yard or penis, is the last part of the genital 
apparatus of man; it is the organ of copulation; situ- 
ated immediately below the symphysis of the pubes; 
it has a cylindroid form and its length is from four 
to five inches. It is formed, 1st, by the cavernous 
bodies which give to it its shape and dimensions; 
they begin within the rami of the ischium and pubes; 
they gradually approach each other and soon unite to 
form the body of the penis; they extend as far as the 
glans penis, in which they terminate by two conoid 
extremities. They are composed of a very strong 
fibrous membrane externally, which form between 
themselves a middle partition; it sends prolongations 
into the texture which fills up its cavity; this internal 
tissue, in the swelling of which erection consists, is 
composed, according to some, of a spongy structure, 
in which terminates the arteries and veins; accord- 
ing to others, it consists of a net-work of capillary 
arteries, veins, and nerves, supported by a cellular 
texture. 2d, By the spongy portion of the canal of 
the urethra; lodged in a furrow formed by the cav- 
ernous bodies, it constitutes the inferior part of the 
penis; its spongy tissue expands at the extremity of 

they contain to be forced out of them." Again, in speaking 
of birds, which have no vesiculx seminales, but which have a 
small bladder at the extremities of the vasa deferentia, he says; 
" it is filled with a seminal liquor, and placed sometimes be- 
tween two erector muscles, the contraction of which must com- 
press it." The duck is given as an example; which bird I have 
dissected, and found all as described by Cuvier. Thans. 



224 GENERATION. 

the cavernous body in order to form the glans penis, 
a kind of conoidal organ which is the seat of the vo- 
luptuous sensations which accompanies coitus. 3d, 
Finally, by the skin, which envelops every part and 
sends over the glans penis a prolongation called 
prepuce, which is intended to entertain its exquisite 
sensibility. 

Secretion of the Semen. The testicle, with the 
blood which it receives from the spermatic artery, 
produces the prolific liquor; this latter passes through 
the whole extent of the seminiferous ducts, and the 
epididymis; it reascends into the vets deferens to 
the vesiculse seminales, where it is kept in reserve 
till the moment when it is demanded by copulation; 
but, by virtue of what law does the sperm pass 
through so long and so winding a road? To account 
for this phenomenon, physiologists admit generally 
the continuity of the secretion, and the tonic capil- 
lary power of the seminiferous ducts. In common 
cases, the sperm advances slowly in the ducts 
through which it passes, and it is very likely that 
it experiences some modifications in its progress; 
what proves it, is, that during copulation, when 
its progress is very active, it is more serous, less 
compact in the last ejaculations than in the first; but 
how does it happen that instead of following habit- 
ually the ejaculator duct, it retrogrades into the vesi- 
culse seminales? Secondly, what modification does 
it experience in these reservoirs? These are ques- 
tions which as yet have only been answered in a very 
evasive manner, and which require new researches 
and further investigation. 

Semen, is an opaque whitish fluid, the odour is 
sui generis; it tastes salt and acrid; left to itself, it 
separates into two parts; the one, thick and stringy, 



GENERATION. 225 

the other, very fluid and transparent. Some phy- 
siologists admit that it contains a gaseous some- 
thing, designated by the name of aura seminalis. 
We never can obtain the semen entirely pure, it is 
always more or less mixed with a certain quantity 
of the humour produced by the glands of Cowper, 
by the prostate and the mucous membrane of the 
urethra. 

Semen, examined by a miscroscope, appeared to 
Leuivenhoeck composed of animalcules. Buffon, 
Nudham, and Spallanzani, presumed they were 
the same as those animalcules, which are met with 
in all liquids. M. Virey thinks that these are the 
small vesicles which contain the real prolific fluid. 
Lastly, Messrs. Prevost and Dumas, who have 
made some researches about these animalcules, con- 
sider them as the sole agents of fecundation. 

On chymical analysis, it has been found to con- 
tain in a 1000 parts, 900 water, 60 animal mucilage, 
30 phosphate of lime, and 10 soda. M. Berzelius, 
has found in it the salts of the blood, besides an ani- 
mal matter. 

article 2. 

JB. Genital Apparatus of Woman 

It is composed of the organs of germification y 
gestation, and copulation. 

Ovaries. These are two irregular ovoidai bodies, 
situated in the pelvis, on both sides of the uterus, in 
a duplicature of the peritoneum; they are formed by 
a fibrous membrane on the exterior, and on the in- 
terior by a soft, spongy, grayish tissue, in which is 
found fifteen or twenty small transparent vesicles,, 



226 GENERATION. 

filled with a viscous fluid, and which are larger in 
proportion as they are exterior. 

Fallopian tubes. These are two tortuous mem- 
branous canals, which establish a communication 
between the ovary and uterus; on one side they 
end in this organ by a very narrow orifice; on the 
other they terminate in a loose fimbriated body 
(Pavilion); this latter opens into the cavity of the 
peritoneum, it is divided into several fringes, the 
longest of which adheres to the ovary. 

Uterus. This is the organ of gestation, a pyri- 
form body, situated in the pelvis between the rec- 
tum and bladder; we observe, 1st, the body, which 
is superior; 2d, the neck, which is inferior, embraced 
by the vagina, into which it projects four or five 
lines, and which opens into it by a transversal fis- 
sure, with lips like a margin, and called the os tincse; 
3d. Finally, the cavity, that of the body has the 
form of a curvilinear triangle; it is at its two supe- 
rior angles where the fallopian tubes enter, the in- 
ferior angle terminates in the neck; this latter, 
slightly excavated in its centre, presents nothing 
very remarkable. 

The tissue of the uterus is dense, tough; elastic, 
grayish, difficult to dissect in its ordinary state; 
nevertheless, according to the researches which have 
been made during gestation, it is considered as mus- 
cular. Weitbrecht has pointed out small orbicular 
muscles, at the orifice of the fallopian tubes. Sue, 
remarks having observed on the surfaces, four mus- 
cular knots, which he considers as centres of con- 
traction. Madame Boivin, has remarked in it, 
from the exterior to the interior, 1st, a muscular 
membrane extended from its fundus to the vaginal 
extremity of the neck; 2d, transversal fibres situated 



GENERATION. 227 

on each side of the median line, between the two 
superior angles, on a level with which they send 
prolongations which form the fallopian tubes, the 
suspensory ligaments of the uterus, and the cord3 
of the ovaries; 3d, continuing always under the first 
layer, we observe, on a level with the body, a layer, 
which from the orifice ascends in the form of a sheaf 
as far as the body, crossing the tran verse fibres; 
4th, within, along the median line, on the anterior 
and posterior surfaces, some vertical fibres which 
are covered above, in order to form the orbicular 
fibres of Weitbrecht; 5th. Lastly, according to this 
lady, on the sides of the raphe anterior and posterior 
of the neck, arise some ramified regular folds, and 
some of which ascend on the body of the organ. 
Such is also the description of it given by Charles 
Bell. Lastly, Messrs. Ribes and Chaussier think 
that the superficial fibres of the neck are circular, 
that the deep seated fibres are longitudinal, and that 
they are continuous with those of the body. On its 
exterior, the uterus is covered by the peritonaeum; 
within, by a mucous membrane the existence of 
which is denied by Messrs. Chaussier, Ribes, and 
Madam Boivin. 

Vagina. This is a membranous vascular canal, 
from six to seven inches in length, destined to re- 
ceive the penis; it extends from the neck of the 
uterus to its outward opening, where it terminates 
in the pudenda or vulva. On its internal surface 
we observe transversal ridges; its orifice, in the vir- 
gin, is partially closed, by a membrane called the 
hymen, of which we observe only some remains in 
women who have had intercourse with man, a layer 
of erectile tissue, a cellular membrane, and a con- 
strictor muscle constitute the parietes of the vagina. 



228 FENERATION 

Lastly, the vulva. It presents, 1st. The labia 
externa, provided with an erectile tissue and sphinc- 
ter; 2d. The labia interna, very sensitive and erec- 
tile; 3d, finally, the clitoris, an organ composed of 
i cavernous body, of a glans and prepuce, suscepti- 
3le, like the penis, of erection. It is the seat of 
voluptuousness. 

ARTICLE 3. 

Organic and functional differences of the Sexes. 

Thus far we have almost exclusively treated of 
the organism of man. It would be but proper, that 
oefore undertaking the functions which the union 
of the sexes requires, we should arrest our atten- 
tion for a moment on the particular history of 
females. 

1. Stature. The most exercised eve can detect 
but very few differences between the two sexes, 
during youth, but it is otherwise at the age of pu- 
berty. In man, •muscles become more prominent, 
-he chin is covered with beard; while in woman, 
her form becomes rounder, the breast enlarges, the 
face still preserves the sweetness of youth, the head 
remains smaller in proportion, and generally speak- 
ing the neck is longer, the chest narrower, the 
shoulders less prominent, larger arms, smaller hands, 
and the fingers more slender, have an enchanting 
elegance; a broader pelvis, shorter limbs, larger 
knees, inclining inwards, smaller feet; finally, the 
bony projections are always less marked; the whole 
is more slender and delicate; the cellular and adipose 
"issues are more abundant, the skin, whiter and finer 
r .o the touch, is only covered with a slight down, 



GENERATION. 220 

whilst the hair being longer, becomes a new source 
of beauty. 

2. Nutrition. The organs which concur to this 
function are always less developed in woman than 
in man, and this is the reason she consumes a small- 
er quantity of aliments than we, her hunger or ap- 
petite is more capricious, but easier to satisfy. 
Respiration is shorter but more frequent, circulation 
is more active, the pulse not so full; the secretions 
generally are less abundant, if we except that of 
fat. 

3. Sensations. Women's brain is less develop- 
ed than that of men, but their nerves are bigger 
and somewhat softer; they evident^ exceed us in 
the delicacy of their sensations, and the acuteness 
of their senses. Behold the vivacity of their looks: 
their other senses are no less acute; hence an infinity 
of impressions which escape the notice of man, and 
which give them that benevolent, kind, tender, 
compassionate and devoted character; hence also, 
a too great number of ideas to be ripened by reflec- 
tion, and consequently that mobility with which 
they are. justly reproached; vainly they attempt to 
be constant, their constitution shows the fallacy; 
their great disposition to receive impressions neces- 
sarily causes them continually to change their de- 
termination, and produces in them a multitude of 
caprices for which they themselves can not ac- 
count. From this continual and rapidly varied ac- 
tivity of the nervous system in women, it results, 
also, that they are unfit for close and serious studies; 
and that it is impossible for them to rise to the sub- 
lime height of the sciences; they have nothing pro- 
found or vast in their thoughts, but their mind is 
gentle and graceful, and their conversation lively 

20 



23<) GENERATION 

and full of agreeableness; so that they must excel in 
music, and in the art of delineating the movements 
of the human heart. 

4. Locomotion. In woman the organs of move- 
ments are different from ours; the bones are not so 
long nor so big; their curvature is less appreciable, 
the muscles are smaller, so that she is not capable of 
much bodily effort; the crests of the ilia are wider 
apart, hence a considerable rotatory movement of the 
pelvis whilst walking, and to which, grace is as- 
cribed. 

I Expressions. Sensibility being much greater 
in woman, her pathetic language must be very di- 
versified and very expressive; her voice also must 
be very different from that of man, and this is ow- 
ing to the apparatus of the voice being smaller; it i? 
generally sweeter, more harmonious, and more 
touching. 

6 Sleep. All the acts of woman seem to be 
stamped with a peculiar character, lightness. Sleep 
is, m her, less sound than in man, nor does it last so 
long. 

7. Lastly, Menstruettion. Man has nothing like 
it; it is a sanguineous exhalation, which occurs pe- 
riodically during four or five days in every month, 
and which announces the fecundity of women. This 
menstrual evacuation, in our climate, occurs be- 
tween the ages of thirteen and fifteen, they are 
more precocious in southern countries, and, on the 
contrary, later in northern latitudes. 

Sometimes the menses appear suddenly without 
any previous sign; but most generally, they are pre- 
ceded by vague pains, weight in the lumbar regions, 
a pricking sensation in the mammse, an unpleasant 
itching in the genital parts. In some cases there 



GENERATION, 

happens even more serious accidents;, a violent fever 
is induced, the skin is red and hot, the young girl 
refers her pains particularly to the lumbar and hypo- 
gastric regions; finally, some drops of blood ap- 
pear, and thus ends all this scene of pains. 

The menses seldom assume a regular periodicity 
at the beginning of their appearance; it is only after 
several months have elapsed, that the menstrual flux 
takes up a regular character. In the course of life 
it is subject to some changes, either in the period of 
their recurrence, or in their duration, or in the 
quantity of blood which is evacuated, or, lastly, in 
the nature of the phenomena, which precede, accom- 
pany, or follow it. 

Finally^ there happens a time, in which woman 
has an entire cessation of the menses, and with it 
loses also the aptitude for generation; this occurs 
commonly at the age of forty-five or fifty in this 
country, [France) later in the northern latitudes,, 
and sooner in warm southern climates. This period 
is very often marked by serious accidents, hence 
the designation of critical age. 

Some physiologists wish to explain the periodici- 
ty of the menses by lunar influences, by an uterine 
fermentation, by a too profuse nourishment which 
produces an exuberance of sanguine fluid, by a de- 
termination of the soul. It is generally thought, 
that when women arrive at the age of puberty, their 
blood is in a sufficient quantity -for two individuals, 
and it is by menstruation that they rid themselves 
of the superfluous blood, when they are not preg- 
nant, or after lactation.. 



23-2 GENERATION 

ARTICLE 4. 

C. Of Copulation. 

Copulation consists in the union of the genital 
organs of both sexes; it is the act in which volup- 
tuousness is excited, and which entice us to repro- 
duction. 

Sensation which invites to coition. Nature, al- 
ways mindful of her own works, has attached the 
allurement of pleasure to the fulfilment of the func- 
tions which insure individual existence; she has 
been no less provident for those which protect the 
perpetuation of the species. At the age of puberty 
a lively imperious sensation is felt, unknown till 
then, and which excites to copulation. This sensa- 
tion, very distinct from all others, was referred to 
the genital organs by most physiologists; M. Gall, 
on the contrary, makes of it one of the affective 
faculties of the soul; it is, according to him, a cere- 
bral phenomenon, which has its seat in the cere- 
bellum. 

Man, solicited by this sensation, has an erection, 
i. e. the penis is swollen, becomes stiff by a consi- 
derable afflux of blood in the cavernous bodies, the 
urethra and glans penis; from this moment, this body, 
which has acquired powerful strength by this ac- 
tive congestion, surmounts all the obstacles that the 
orifice of the vagina might present, and penetrates 
deeply into this organ, in directing its course towards 
the neck of the uterus; the very great degree of heat 
communicated by the parts of the woman, and the 
voluptuous friction, of which it is the seat, propa- 
gate its orgasm to the whole economy, and parti- 
cularly to the organs of fecundation; the testicles are 



SE-N-E RAT-ION. 83^ 

drawn nearer the ring, and, pressed in their enve- 
lopes, increase their activity; the vesieulas seminales 
contract, and dart the semen which they contain into 
the canal of the urethra, where it arrives, in conjunc- 
tion with that which is directly derived from the 
testicles; by the synergic and convulsive action of 
the levator ani, the erector penis, the accelerator 
urinag, and the canal itself, the semen is darted with 
a sensation of indescribable voluptuousness, which 
throws man into a state of convulsion, and which 
often forces him to cry out; the pleasure is more or 
less prolonged, but the penis relaxes immediately 
into its ordinary condition* 

Woman does not remain passive in the act of coi- 
tion; the sensation of desire determines an active 
congestion in all the erectile parte of the vulva and 
vagina, and the approach of man, particularly the 
introduction of the penis, that plunges her into a 
voluptuous orgasm, which gradually increases even 
to produce general convulsions, and which end in a 
greater or smaller excretion of vaginal mucus, to 
which succeeds a languor, which is also full of 
charms. 

ARTICLE 5. 

D, Of Fecundation. 

We understand by this term, the mechanism of 
the formation of a new being, by the contact of the 
elements, furnished by the concurrence of both 
sexes. 

As to man, it is obvious that the semen is the 

only fecundating liquor, as it is most abundantly 

proved by the experiments of Spallanzani in his 

artificial fecundations of frogs and dogs, and of Jc- 

20* 



234 GENERATION. 

zobi, of fishes. These ingenious experiments have 
been repeated with ample success by Messrs. Du- 
mas and Prdvost, who also have remarked, as was 
advanced by Spallanzani, that the semen ought 
to be diluted in order to become fit for fecunda- 
tion. 

Some physiologists think that the semen deposit- 
ed in the vulva-uterine canal, is absorbed to be car- 
ried on the ovary by the means of the circulation; 
others think that there arises a vapour from it {aura 
seminales,) which directly goes to this organ; but 
it is generally admitted that this liquor is darted in- 
to the uterus, and even that it is drawn into it by 
the aspiration of its orifice; liuysch has found it in 
a young woman surprised in the act of adultery, and 
killed, during the act of copulation, by her busband. 

The semen, when it has arrived in the matrix, 
according to Dumas and Prevostj and some other 
physiologists, fecundates in it the ovum, which is 
brought here from elsewhere; or, and this is the 
most general opinion, at the moment of the volup- 
tuous orgasm, which accompany coition, the fallo- 
pian tube itself is in a kind of erection, during 
which, it forcibly carries its fimbriated body on 
the ovary, and brings to it the fecundating liquor; 
indeed, Hailer has met with semen even in the fal- 
lopian tubes close to the ovary; and De Graaf and 
Magendie have found, some hours after copulation, 
the fimbriated body forcibly bound on this organ; 
abdominal gestation and that in the fallopian tubes, 
that Nuck produced at pleasure by tying this tube, 
give to this opinion a strong character of truth. 

As to the part which the woman performs, is 
also evidently proved, that it is from the ovary that 
the part which she furnishes comes, for the accom- 



GENERATION. 235 

plishment of fecundation. Harvey first advanced, 
that an ovum was detached from it, De Graaf de- 
monstrates it by precise experiments; he considered 
it as composed of two membranes and of limpid li- 
quor; Haller, and since, Dumas and Prevost, have 
performed new experiments on this subject; they 
have observed, after a fecundating coition, a vesicle 
developed on the ovary, to enlarge during five or 
six days, afterwards break, and an ovulum to escape 
from it through a small bleeding orifice, which 
leaves a yellowish spot behind; this small ovum, 
when examined with a magnifying glass, presents a 
small cicatrix, (cicatricule) or navel, similar to that 
of the seeds of plants. 

In the moment in which the small ovum is de- 
tached, the fimbriated body seizes and transports it 
into its last destination, the uterus. Bussihre has 
observed this small body partially engaged in the 
fallopian tube, as it was still adhering to the ovary. 

In every thing we have remarked thus far, we 
have always been led by actual observation, and we 
have been able to follow nature in all the stages of 
her operations; but if we seek to penetrate into 
the causation of the first spring of vivification, ob- 
servation abandons us at our first step, and we are 
left to ourselves, and must inevitably fall into the 
obscurities of hypotheses. We may refer all the 
theories which have been advanced to the two fol- 
lowing: 

1. Epigenesis. In this hypothesis, it is believed 
that the new individual is composed by the fusion 
of the materials furnished by both sexes, by the 
means of the power called formation. M. Larnark 
believes organized bodies to proceed from a sponta- 
neous generation, which occurs under the influence 



236 GENE RATION. 

6f a vivifying cause, appertaining probably to light 
and electricity; he adds, that every time that this 
:ause meets with gelatinous matter, it produces 
living beings; that this is the manner in which the 
human embryo is formed, which from this low de- 
cree of organization gradually rises to that which 
is proper to man. Hippocrates admitted in both 
sexes a male semen, and a female substance, which, 
by means of heat, engendered new beings by a kind 
of animal crystalization. Descartes ascribes it to a 
movement of fermentation in both semen; Pascal 
observes that their combination is required by their 
^hymical nature, the one being acid, and the other 
alkaline; Buffo n admits living molecules, and he 
thinks that generation occurs by the combination of 
these molecules, which he calls organic, with a lit- 
tle dead matter, fyc, 

2. Evolution. In this other system, the germ is 
lurnished by both sexes, and by a series of develop- 
ments, it arrives to constitute at last a new indi- 
vidual. The physiologists who entertain this opinion, 
are divided into two sects. 

1. Some, by the analogy of the oviparous animals, 
idmit that the body, which is detached from the 
ovary, is an ovum, formed with an embryo, and with 
particular organs destined to its nutrition, and to its 
development; that this embryo contains the germ 
of a new individual, which only awaits favourable 
circumstances, dependent on fecundation, in order to 
develop itself. Among those who advocate the hy- 
pothesis of the ovarists, there are some, at the head 
of whom we find Bonnet, who presume that the 
eggs are contained the one within the other, in such 
a manner, as to be fecundated successively; that the 
first woman had contained, in one of her eggs, the 



GENERATION. 237 

whole human race, and that, consequently, this race 
must one day cease to exist, because of the exhaus- 
tion of the reproducing ovuli. Others, more judi- 
cious, think that every woman produces her own 
eggs by a kind of secretion. 

2. After the discovery of spermatic animalcules, 
most physiologists supposed them to be the rudi- 
ments of new individuals. Andry believed that 
they lodged themselves in one of the vesicles of the 
ovary, to draw from it its first nutritive elements, 
and that they afterwards returned into the cavity of 
the uterus. Jlnimalculism was generally forgot- 
ten, when Messrs. Dumas and Prevost, by inge- 
nious researches, have again revived this hypothesis^ 
that the spermatic animalcules are the agents of fe- 
cundation; these experimenters, think that the ovu- 
lum is only a cellular sheath in which the organs 
are formed; and from the first rude lineaments of 
fcetus that they have observed, they conjecture, 
that the animalcules contain the rudiments of the 
nervous system of the new being. M. Rolando, 
w 7 ho has adopted this hypothesis, observes likewise, 
that the ovulum furnishes also the rudiments of the 
cellulo-vascular system, and that the spermatic ani- 
malcules contain those of the nervous system. 

Nevertheless, most modern physiologists, while 
applauding the efforts made by these ingenious ex- 
perimenters, in order to penetrate into the secrets 
of conception, they confess that the science is too 
obscure, to give a satisfactory explanation on this 
phenomenon. 

Whatever may be the cause, fecundation is irre- 
sistibly performed; volition has no power over it; 
we can not engender at pleasure different sexes, nor 



238 GENERATION. 

have any influence on the number of children, nor 
on their physical qualities, or on their future morals. 

article 6. 

Development of the Ovum in the Uterus. 

Whatever may be the different hypotheses on the 
subject of fecundation, the fecundated ovulum con- 
tains the elements of a new being; its cicatrix pre- 
sents an outer membrane called chorion {champ 
opaque), and an inner one called amnion {champ 
transparent); in the centre of the latter, we ob- 
serve the rudiments of the nervous system: Such is 
the condition in which the human fecundated ovum 
proceeds to the uterus. 

An impenetrable obscurity prevails on the first 
periods of the development of the organization of 
the foetus; writers have not yet agreed in an incon- 
testable manner as to the epoch at which the new- 
being is clearly seen in the human ovulum: all that 
has been remarked on this point of physiology, is 
no better than hypothesis. 

About three weeks after fecundation, the embryo 
appears under the form of a small worm, somewhat 
larger in its middle, free in the cavity of the ovum, 
or rather adherent to its internal membrane, by the 
part of the body which hereafter will correspond to 
the insertion of the umbilical cord. This small ver- 
miform body, contained in its own membrane, (the 
amnion), exclusively belongs to the trunk; it al- 
ready presents a small circle which is the rudiment 
of the sanguine system, and on which, is soon de- 
veloped a small pulsating cavity, {the heart); soon 
after we remark, at the superior part of the trunk, 
a little projection, which is separated by a small ex- 



GENERATION. 339 

savation; this is the origin of the head, which soon 
acquires a considerable volume; at this time the 
spinal marrow becomes more and more evident, and 
the nerves expand. 

Towards the sixth week, two small points an- 
nounce the formation of the eyes, and a transversal 
fissure, that of the mouth} soon after, appear the 
lineaments of the superior extremities at first, and 
the inferior afterwards; the intestinal canal is situated 
perpendicularly, and before the spinal column, the 
anterior parietes of the abdomen forms a conoidal 
projection, which still adheres to the membranes of 
the ovum; this latter, as a whole, has an ovoidal form, 
about one inch and a half long, to one inch and two 
lines wide, 

Some days after, the embryo is separated from the 
membranes of the ovum, the abdominal parietes 
seems to be elongated into a funnel form, in order to 
make the umbilical cord; at this period, before the 
inferior extremity of the spinal marrow, which is 
twisted into a tail, appears several openings, which 
are the rudiments of the anus and genital organs. 

From the ninth to the tenth week, the mouth is 
formed by the occlusion of the lips, but its cavity 
still communicates freely with that of the nasal 
fossae; the eye-lids cover the eyes, the auricular 
openings begin to appear, the hand to digitate, and 
the rachidian tail to disappear. 

Towards the twelfth week, every part of the face 
is well defined, the sternum shuts up the anterior 
parietes of the thorax, the intestine, at first contain- 
ed in the umbilical cord, recedes into the cavity of 
the abdomen, the skin begins to be organized, the 
embryo has grown to the size of five or six inches 
long. 



240 GENERATION. 

From the fourth to the fifth month the parts be- 
come more and more proportionate and distinct; 
ossification makes some progress, the skin assumes 
some consistency, reddish fatty matter is deposit- 
ed in the cellular tissue. 

Finally, in proportion as it approaches more the 
period of birth, the skin covers itself with a delicate 
down; the follicles very much developed, secrete a 
white oily humour, the hair grows, the parts become 
firm and round, and assume the proportion which 
charaterize our species. 

The embryo does not float freely in the cavity of 
the uterus; it is inclosed in special membranes, 
which attach it in the cavity of this organ, and serve 
to its nutrition and growth, by establishing between 
it and the mother functional relations; it is there- 
fore necessary to examine these accessory mem- 
branes before we give the history of the phenomena 
of the life of the foetus. 

ARTICLE 7. 

Of the membranes of the Foetus. 

At the time of coition, the uterus experiences the 
orgasm of the other sexual parts, and if fecundation 
occurs, it continues to be turgid, the uterine pari- 
etes augment gradually in thickness, soften, and be- 
come more vascular; in the mean time the cavity 
dilates, and is filled with a sero-albuminous matter, 
which is organized into a membranous sac, which 
the ovum pushes forward, when it enters into the 
matrix through the internal orifice of the fallopian 
tubes; this membrane, called decidua by Hunter, 
epechorion by Chaussier, is doubled on itself, over 
the whqle surface of the ovum, which, however, 



ti EKE RATION. 241 

fio more contains it within its cavity than the pleura 
does the lungs, as was demonstrated by Messrs. 
Moreau, Velpeau, and Breschet. At first, thick, 
soft, pulpy, not unlike the surface of the cresemen- 
tum of the blood, the decidua becomes thinner, the 
more the period of labour approaches; it loses, at the 
same time, its organization, and seems to become 
almost inorganic. 

This membrane, as we have just seen, does not 
belong, properly speaking, to the ovum; it only 
serves to fix it in the uterine cavity during the first 
months of gestation, whilst those of which we are 
going to treat, properly appertain to the embryo. 

2. Chorion. This is the most external mem- 
brane of the human ovum. It is thin, transparent, 
its external surface is covered with numerous vascu- 
lar villosities which unite it to the decidua, except in 
the place where this latter has been reflected on itself 
by the entering of the ovum, and where these vil- 
losities must afterwards, by being developed, con- 
stitute the placenta; its internal surface, likewise 
villous, corresponds to the membrane of the am- 
nion, from which it is, in the first weeks of gesta- 
tion, separated by a certain quantity of serosity. 
M. Velpeau has perfectly demonstrated, that this 
membrane is composed of one single leavelet or la- 
mina, instead of two, as was generally admitted be- 
fore; he has observed it distinctly, even as early as 
the twelfth day of conception. 

3. Amnion. It is the first membrane which is 
developed; it immediately surrounds the embryo, 
as we have already observed. It is thin, white 
and transparent, and is separated from the chorion 
during the two or three first months of pregnancy 
by a fluid called false waters of the amnion^ after- 
21 



242 GENERATION. 

wards, it intimately adheres to this membrane by 
cellular filaments, which have been believed to be 
vascular; it lines the foetal surface of the placenta, 
accompanies the umbilical cord with which it is 
closely connected; hence it is continuous with the 
epidermis of the embryo, as was demonstrated by 
M. Velpeau. It is not positively known if this 
membrane receives its vessels from the mother or 
from the foetus. M. Chaiissicr injected them from 
the side of the mother; Monro, by throwing the 
injection through the foetus, so that it is probable 
that it receives some from both. 

The cavity of this membrane contains a fluid 
named liquor amnii, and which abounds the more 
as the term of utero-gestation advances. This hu- 
mour is at first clear and pretty transparent; later it 
becomes viscous, and contains more or less caseous 
flakes; its source has not been properly ascertained; 
some believe it furnished by the mother, others by 
the foetus, and consistent with the latter hypothe- 
ses some physiologists have considered it as the re- 
sult of the cutaneous and urinary secretions. 

M. Vauquelin has analysed the liquor amnii; this 
learned and eminent chemist has found it to contain 
water, albumen, soda, hydrochlorate of soda, lime, 
and phosphate of lime. M. Berzelins, has detect- 
ed in it fluoric acid; Chicle, oxygen; and Las- 
saigne, atmospheric air. 

4. Placenta. It is a round or oblong vascular 
and spongy mass, thicker at its centre than at its cir- 
cumference, having from six to nine inches in dia- 
meter; developed at a point of the exterior surface 
of the chorion, it adheres on one side to the uterus, 
and communicates on the other with the foetus, 
through a prolongation named umbilical cord. 



GENERATION. 243 

According to M. Velpeau, this organ is formed 
by the development of the gangliform granulations 
which are remarked on the part of the external sur- 
face of the chorion, where the decidua is wanting, 
and which is in close contact with the matrix; thus 
we find it ordinarily situated in this organ close to 
the fallopian tuhes. M. Velpeau thinks that these 
granulations contain the rudiments of the vessels of 
the placenta. 

The uterine surface of the placenta is covered by 
a very thin vascular and cellular membrane; its 
fcetal side presents, in its centre, the insertion of 
the umbilical cord; it is lined inside and outside 
by the chorion and amnion. The parts which enter 
into the composition of the placenta, are, 1st, arte- 
rial and venous vessels, proceeding from the uterus 
and ramifying in the corresponding face o£ this or- 
gan; 2dlyj arteries and veins, which proceed from 
the fcetus, and are ramified on the outer surface 
without communicating with the preceding. 3dly, 
White filaments, considered to be obliterated ves- 
sels. 4thly, A cellular web; 5thly, lymphatic ves- 
sels; 6thly, lastly, according to Messrs. Chaussier 
and Ribes, some nerves proceeding from the great 
sympathetic of the foetus. 

5. Umbilical cord. This is a vascular cord, which 
establishes a communication between the placenta 
and the fcetus; in the beginning of gestation, the 
embryo adheres closely to the amnion, by the ante- 
rior parietes of its belly; it is only towards the sixth 
week that this cord is developed. At first very 
short and resembling an hour glass, it contains the 
intestinal canal; afterwards its length increases rapid- 
ly, and narrows as it approaches the abdomen; this 
cord consists, 1st, of the umbilical vein, which pro- 



244 GENERATION. 

ceeds from the vena cava inferior, and is ramified in 
the placenta after having communicated in the liver 
with the vena portarum; 2dly, of two umbilical ar- 
teries, which are continuations of the primitive 
iliacs; they likewise proceed to and join the placenta ; 
3dly, of the urachus; 4thly, of the omphalous and 
mesenteric vessels; 5thly, of nervous filaments of 
the great sympathetic; 6thly, finally, of a cellulo- 
gelatinous tissue and of its envelopes. 

6. Umbilical vesicle, f Vesicula umbilicalis. ) 
At first denied by some anatomists, it is now pretty 
generally admitted by all. This is a small bag 
of a dense and granular texture, filled with yellow- 
ish humour, which is situated below the anterior 
part of the embryo, and which is considered as 
analogous to the vitelline sac in birds. In fact, this 
I'esicle receives, like the latter, omphalo-mesen- 
teric vessels, and it is from it that the intestinal ca- 
nal proceeds, as Wolf, Hunter, Oken, Bojanus, 
Meckel, &c. have demonstrated. Towards the third 
month the vesicula umbilicalis disappears. 

7. Mlantoid. Opinions are as yet divided with 
respect to the existence of the allantoid in the hu- 
man foetus. The following authors admit of it: 
Nudham, Be Graaf, Haller, Cuvier, Meckel, &c. 
This organ is a small membranous reservoir placed 
tween the chorion and amnion, or, according to M. 
Velpeau, exteriorly of the chorion, and which com- 
municates with the bladder through a tube called 
urachus; it is filled with a limpid fluid, which has 
been supposed to be the urine of the foetus, or, with 
some more likelihood,, to. be alimentary matter kept 
in reserve, 



FENERATION. 845 

ARTICLE S. 

Physiology of the Foetus. 

INTRA UTERINE LIFE. 

1. Nutrition. M. Chaussier thinks that the 
sero-almuminous substance, which fills the uterus 
at the time of fecundation, is intended for the nu- 
trition of the embryo during the first period of its 
development; but we have already remarked, on 
Messrs. MoreaiCs and Velpeau's authority, that 
this substance was, before the ovum enters into the 
cavity of the uterus, organized and converted into 
a membrane, the decidua. Afterwards, authors 
have also considered the fluid contained in the um- 
bilical vesicle as being nutritive, arguing from the 
analogy exisling between it and the )^olk of the 
eggs of birds, which in its turn has been compared 
to the cotyledon of vegetables: this ingenious com- 
parison appears highly probable. In fact, in the 
same manner as we see the cotyledons to fade and 
drop away, when the radicles of the new plant has 
reached a certain degree of growth, thus, we also 
observe the yolk of the egg to be absorbed for the 
development of the new being; in the same manner 
also we remark the umbilical vesicle, of a very con- 
siderable size in the human ovum, disappear in the 
same degree as the placenta is developed; in this 
hypotheses, it is supposed that this pouch pours the 
nutritive substance into the intestinal canal, where 
it is digested; but it is more likely, that it should be 
immediately conveyed into the vascular system by 
the omphalo-mesenteric vessels. The greater num- 
21* 



^4(3 GENERATION. 

ber of physiologists ascribe the nutritions of the 
foetus to the liquor amnii; some, as Osiander, Buf- 
fon, Vandenboschj have it absorbed through the 
skin; others, as Boerhaave, Halter, &c., believe 
that it passes through the mouth into the digestive 
canal; finally, others again, such as Rcederer, Wins- 
low, &c, suppose it to penetrate through the aerian 
passages of respiration; but all these opinions are 
speculations altogether hypothetical, and it is wise- 
to remain at least, in doubt, with respect to the nu- 
tritive action of this humour. Some physiologists 
are of opinion, that the blood is directly conveyed 
from the mother to the foetus, through the villosi- 
ties, which connect the uterus with the mambrana 
decidua, and this latter with the chorion. In order 
to prove this hypothesis, it would be necessary first 
to demonstrate, that these villosities are of a vascu- 
lar nature. M. Meckel considers also the gelatinous 
substance contained in the umbilical cord, as being 
also nutritive. Lastly, the placenta is very general- 
ly supposed to be a source of nutritive matter; its 
increase, which corresponds with the disappearance 
of the umbilical vesicle, tends to prove that they 
are the only sources, or at least, the two principal 
organs for the nutrition of the foetus; that the vesi- 
cle provides the necessary materials for its growth, 
during the two or three first months, and that the 
placenta supplies it till the moment of birth. The 
ancients supposed that the blood passed directly 
from the mother to the foetus, by means of the pla- 
cental vessels; but injections have since proved, that 
there exists no such direct communication. It is 
now generally admitted, that the uterine vessels 
deposit on the parietal surface of the placenta, a fluid,. 



GENERATION. 247 

which is afterwards absorbed by very minute ves- 
sels of the umbilical cord. 

Now that we are acquainted with the principal 
sources from which the foetus draws the materials 
proper to its growth, let us examine how these sub- 
stances are converted into its own body. It is very 
certain, that the embryo elaborates its own blood 
from the humour of the umbilical vesicle, in the 
same manner as birds borrow from their vitellus; 
but by what mechanism is this conversion operated? 
We only can answer this question by conjectures 
more or less specious; again, what is the kind of fluid 
conveyed from the uterus to the placenta? what 
change does the latter organ produce on it? and in 
what state does it reach the foetus? This part of in- 
tra-uterine physiology is involved in the greatest ob- 
scurity. M. Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire, pretends 
that a very great part of the blood which is derived 
from the mother, is distributed to the liver for the 
secretion of a peculiar bile, which poured into the 
intestine, excites an abundant mucous secretion, and 
that this mucus is constantly digested and absorbed 
by the chyliferous vessels, and afterwards circulated 
in the vascular system. According to this physiolo- 
gist, the meconium is an evident proof of foetal 
digestion. 

According ta some physiologists, the placenta 
fulfils the office of a respiratory organ, that is to say, 
.the blood is sent into it at each pulsation to be vivi- 
fied within its texture: Such is the opinion enter- 
tained by Messrs. Lobstein, Schregar, B6clard y . 
and especially Meckel, who ascribe no other use to 
this organ. 

The movement of the blood in the foetus, varies 
at the different periods of its formation. 1st, In the 



24S GENERATION. 

earliest stage there exists only the ramifications and 
the trunk of the omphalo-mesenteric vein, the pa- 
rietes of which are not as yet distinct from the other 
parts of the embryo; properly speaking, there is as 
yet no circulation; 2dly. Subsequently, this vein 
terminates in the vena portarum, which produces 
the superior part of the heart; from this latter arises 
the aorta, which is extended inferiorly to form the 
vitellary artery; from this moment a simple circu- 
lation is established, the blood proceeds from the 
umbilical vesicle to the heart, and hence is distri- 
buted throughout the body, and is returned by the 
omphalo-mesenteric artery; 3dly, after this period, 
the placenta is developed, together with the two 
umbilical arteries, and the umbilical vein, which 
vein unites in the liver with the vena portarum; at 
this time circulation becomes more complicated; 
4thly, and lastly, the vascular system gradually im- 
proves, and circulation becomes double: we have 
elsewhere indicated what characters it presents at 
the time of birth. 

The blood, distributed to all parts, develops, and 
in some measure, may be said to secrete the organ, 
and contributes to their ultimate increase, and to 
their perfection; at first very simple, these organs 
gradually pass to more complicated degrees of tex- 
ture, passing, as it were, through the various de- 
grees of organization presented by the animal scale; 
it seems that man gradually rises, during his uterine 
life, from a simple to a more complex organization, 
until he reaches that which belongs to his species. 

Finally, to terminate the history of the foetus, 
there remains only for us to add, that even at this 
early period, several secretions are observed, such 
as the cutaneous, serous, synovial, adipose, and 



GENERATION. 249 

those of bile and urine. Some physiologists con- 
sider the meconium as being the result of a peculiar 
secretion. 

With respect to the functions of relation, and of 
reproduction, the former are very doubtful, and the 
latter are next to nothing. 

article 9. 

D. Of Gestation. 

We understand by gestation, the sojourn made by 
the embryo in the uterus, from the moment of con- 
ception till the period of birth. 

The ovum, fixed in the uterine cavity, gradually 
grows during the nine solar months, which is the 
term of gestation; consequently the uterus increases 
in the same proportion. Dunns* the two or three 
first months, the effect is not much appreciable ex- 
ternally, the body of the organ assumes a globular 
form, and descends into the pelvis; but it soxm oc- 
cupies a larger space, it compresses the abdominal 
viscera, it gradually ascends into the hypogastrium; 
at the same time, its neck recedes from the orifice 
of the vagina; lastly, during the two last months it 
takes up all the umbilical, and even a great part 
of the epigastric regions; at this time the neck softens 
and dilates, and is ultimately entirely obliterated. 
The uterus at this time presents an ovoidal forr% 
the vagina is lengthened, its mucous secretion be- 
comes more abundant, the ovaries are applied on 
the sides of the matrix, the abdominal parietes ex- 
perience a considerable extension, the neighbouring 
parts are compressed, &c, &c; in the meanwhile 
the structure of the uterus changes, and evidently 
becomes muscular, as we have already remarked, 



250 GENERATION. 

and the menses are suspended. Some physiologists 
ascribe the dilatation of this organ, to the growth 
of the embryo, others are of opinion, that it is owing 
to a peculiar mode of nutrition. 

article 10. 

E. Of Labour. ( 'Accouchement. ) 

It is, properly speaking, the act of bringing forth, 
or excretion of the foetus from the womb of the 
mother; it is a function as natural as defecation, as 
long, however, as labour is natural. We can not 
treat here of such cases as demand the assistance of 
the physician. Birth occurs at a fixed period. 

1. Causes. It was supposed formerly, that la- 
bour was induced by the weight of the fcetus, or by 
the efforts that it makes to disengage itself from the 
uterus. BufFon accounted that it was owing to 
the separation of the placenta from the uterus. Now 
it is believed that it is induced, first, by the in- 
creased irritability of the uterus and by its mode of 
dilatation; afterwards, to the changes which super- 
vene in the circulation of the placenta. Indeed, as 
we draw nearer the time of parturition, a part of its 
vessels are obliterated, and as a natural consequence 
the blood flows to the uterus and solicits its con- 
tractions. 

2. Conditions required for delivery. In order 
that the expulsion of the foetus may be natural and 
easy, it is necessar} T , first, that the woman should 
have a good conformation; that the excretory canal 
should present dimensions sufficiently large for the 
volume of the child; that the neck of the uterus 
should become thin and elastic; that the external 
genital parts should be sufficiently lubricated. On 



GENERATION. 251 

the other hand, the well-formed foetus, must present 
one of the extremities of the ovoid form which it 
possesses in the uterus; the most favourable and the 
most common circumstance is, when the head enters 
the pelvis in such a direction, that the posterior fonta- 
nels corresponds with the left acetabulum, and the 
anterior fontanelle to the right sacro-iliac symphysis; 
in this position, the posterior fontanelle may easily 
pass the arch of the pubis, and the back presents a 
wide surface for the abdominal muscles to act upon. 

3. Mechanism. At first, a peculiar internal sen- 
sation announces that birth is about to occur; it is 
not one of those agreeable sensations which, when 
gratified, assumes a pleasurable character; but it is 
attended with pains, which at first indescribable, and 
occurring at long intervals, become the more in- 
tense and frequent, the more the moment of birth 
approaches. 

In labour, several periods are distinguished, 
A. Petit and Desarmeaux admit of three, M. 
Chaussier five: we shall reduce them to four. 

Preparation for delivery. The head of the foetus, 
embraced by the neck of the uterus, descends into 
the cavity of the pelvis, so that the abdomen relax- 
es, and the mother feels relieved; the symphisis of 
the pelvis* slightly yields,* the vagina is lubricated 
and dilated, the neck of the uterus is obliterated, and 
is opened in consequence of the slight contractions 
of this organ. 

Dilatation of the neck. The contractions gra- 

* Dr. Dewees, in his system of midwifery, adduces four prin- 
cipal reasons against the opinion, that this relaxation of the 
symphysis of the pelvis, is a natural or physiological provision: 
indeed, the whole tenor of his reasoning tend to prove the 
contrary. Trans. 



252 GENERATION. 

dually become more and more powerful and painful, 
and assume an intermittent type; they are effected 
in the longitudinal direction, i. e. from the body to 
the neck, so that they tend to dilate the latter; they 
continually succeed each other, and whilst they last 
the head of the foetus is felt passing the uterine ori- 
fice, which, by the distension which it experiences, 
considerably adds to the intensity of the pains. In 
the meanwhile, the membranes of the foetus separate 
from the circumference of the placenta to the open- 
ing of the neck, in which they protrude in the shape 
of a sac; they rupture at a certain period, and the 
waters flow out, often mixed with a little blood. 
Finally, the head of the foetus, closely applied to 
the orifice which it has to pass, induces a suitable 
degree of dilatation of the parts. 

Expulsion of the Foetus. When the os uteri has 
been sufficiently dilated so as to admit of the passage 
of the foetus, both the contractions and uterine pains 
increase; finally, the head, after several successive 
efforts, crosses the neck of the uterus, and descends 
into the vagina; in this position, the chin is flexed 
over the chest, the posterior fontanelle presses 
against the left acetabulum, and the face looks 
above in the concavity of the sacrum; from this mo- 
ment the contractions of the abdominal muscles are 
joined with that of the uterus, and the head pro- 
gresses forward, experiencing a slight rotatory mo- 
tion, which carries the occiput under the arch of the 
pubis; the coccyx is depressed by the face; the pe- 
rineum becomes thinner, the nymphseare obliterat- 
ed, and the labia externa forcibly distended, are 
widely opened; the pelvis is immovably fixed by 
the lumbar muscles and by those of the inferior ex- 
tremities; the mother strongly grasps every thing 



GENERATION. 253 

that comes within her reach; finally, contractions 
occur in such rapid succession, that they become al- 
most continual; the head is disengaged from under the 
pubis, and by a last and painful effort, it passes the 
vulva and successively presents, after having turned 
on the pubis, the forehead, the nose, the mouth, and 
chin, the remaining part of the body follows with- 
out difficulty; from this moment, the child breathes 
and possesses life independently of the mother. - 

Delivery. Soon after the expulsion of the foetus, 
there occur new pains, which cause the separation 
of the placenta, and the expulsion of the secondary 
membranes, (secondines.) Should any part of the 
decidua be left behind, it is afterwards discharged 
together with the lochias; finally, the woman being 
completely delivered, she enjoys a delicious rest, 
which, conjointly with the pleasure of being a mo- 
ther, compensates her for the excruciating suffering 
she has just endured. 

ARTICLE 11. 

F. Of Lactation. 

No sooner does the child come into the world 
than it enjoys a free and isolated life; but it is yet 
too feeble to draw for itself, from the external world, 
the materials needful to its growth; moreover, its di- 
gestive apparatus is yet too imperfect, and would 
not be sufficiently strong to bear ordinary food; it is 
also the mother who is entrusted with the important 
care of insuring its existence during the first months 
after birth. Such is the object of lactation. 

1. Organs. At the time of puberty, the lateral 
parts of the chest of the female, present two hemi- 
spherical or conical projections, hard and firm in 
22 



254 GENERATION, 

the virgin, softer in women who have borne chil- 
dren; they are covered with a softer and finer skin, 
than any other part of the body; these are the 
breasts. In their centre we observe a circular and 
rose coloured areola, provided with follicles, which 
exhale an unctuous fluid very well calculated to 
protect the nipple from the action of the saliva of the 
child. In their centre rises the nipple, a conoidal 
erectile eminence, on the surface of which, the lac- 
tiferous tubes terminate. 

The part most important for our consideration, is 
the mammary gland, a kind of uneven convex 
body, which results from the union of glandular 
lobes clustering together, and united by a dense cel- 
lular tissue; these lobes themselves are formed by 
lobules, which by close examination may be them- 
selves traced to miliary granulations; these latter 
receive the arterial ramifications which supply them 
with the materials of secretion, and give birth to 
the lactiferous vessels or tubes, which, flexuous and 
semi-transparent at first, are afterwards united into 
larger and larger trunks, directing their course to- 
wards the centre of the gland, without communicat- 
ing from one lobe to another; afterwards they form 
sinuses of different forms and sizes, which, at last, 
produce small excretory ducts traversing the centre 
of the nipple, and opening on its surface. 

2. Functions. During pregnancy the breasts are 
swelled, and sometimes secrete a serous fluid. Dur- 
ing the two first days immediately after birth, the 
secretion augments in activity, but, as yet, produces 
only a sweet, serous, and slightly purgative fluid, 
called colostrum. Finally, the third or fourth day, 
the mammae are seen to swell, become hard, warm, 
painful, and the secretion of milk begins; the sue- 



GENERATION. 255 

tion of the child, as well as his hands which he or- 
dinarily passes over the breast, determines in this 
organ a voluptuous orgasm, which keeps up the ac- 
tivity of the secretion. 

The mechanism of this function is, however, the 
same as that of all the glandular secretions. Never* 
theless, M. Richerand, taking into consideration 
the quantity of lymphatic vessels observed in the 
mammas, and which are dilated during lactation, 
thinks that milk proceeds from lymph; other phy- 
siologists assert that it is derived from chyle: M. 
Girard, maintains that it comes from the uterus 
through imaginary vessels that were never seen. 
As to the excretion, it commonly occurs only at the 
time of suction; during the intervals the milk is ac- 
cumulated in the vessels and in the sinuses, the 
mammas swell, and soon experience the want of be- 
ing emptied or sucked; small membranous bands, 
situated at the orifice of the lactiferous vessels, pre- 
vent the spontaneous effusion of milk. 

S. Milk is a mild fluid, slightly sweet, of an 
opaque white colour, of an odour sui generis, M. 
Berzelius, distinguishes in it the cream and milk. 
According to him cream is composed of butter, of 
cheese, and of serum; this latter contains some sugar 
of milk, and different salts. Milk yields much wa- 
ter, a small quantity of cheese, sugar of milk, mu- 
riate, phosphate, and acetate of potass, phosphate of 
lime, lactic acid, and tartrate of iron. 

After twelve or eighteen months this secretion 
dries up, and suckling terminates with the wonder- 
ful act of reproduction. 



APPENDIX. 



CHAPTER I. 



OF AGES. 



The name of age, has been given to the various 
modifications that man and all the other organized liv- 
ing beings present in their organization, and their 
phenomena, from the moment of birth to that of their 
natural death. These organic and functional changes 
gradually happen, and coincide with the succession 
of years; insensibly from day to day, they at last 
produce an impression on our organs, which may 
serve as data for the physiological physician, and 
which for him divide the course of life, into distinct 
periods, which he is able to appreciate without fur- 
ther references. 

The division of ages varies according to physiolo- 
gists; 1st, some considering the whole economy, and 
particularly the nutritive functions, admit of three: 
the age of increase, the stationary, and that of 
decrease; but, first, does there exist a stationary- 
state or age? and in the second place, can we ascer- 
tain the precise moment at which one of these ages 
ceases, and the other begins? 2dly, other authors, 
22* 



258 OP AGES. 

taking only into consideration the function of re- 
production, propose also three ages; according as 
this faculty of reproduction does not yet exist, or 
may be accomplished, or has ceased to exist. Sdly. 
Finally, Haiti divides the ages into five principal 
ones, namely: the first infancy, the second infan- 
cy or boyhood, adolescence or youth, virility, and 
old age. We shall briefly examine the anatomical 
and physiological peculiarities which belong to each 
of these periods of life. 

ARTICLE 1. 

Of first Infancy. 

This age is confined between the periods of birth 
till seven years old, the time at which the second 
dentition occurs; this is the most delicate and ten- 
der age, and which requires, consequently, most 
attention; and indeed, the mother, by an internal 
peculiar feeling, seems to sacrifice her personal gra- 
tifications to the pleasure of bestowing in the most 
prodigal manner, on the sweet pledge of all her af- 
fections and future hopes, the most tender and heart- 
felt cares. 

The changes remarked in the organization at the 
moment of birth, characterize a new life; the lungs ? 
which have been till now passive in the animal 
economy, begin to act, are filled with air by alter- 
nate motions of inspiration, and expiration, which 
will never end till the death of the individual. 
From this new function results the conversion of 
venous into arterial blood. Moreover, the fora- 
men ovale, or of Botal, and the canalis venosus, and 
arteriosus are obliterated, as well as the umbilical 
vein and arteries; the eustachian valve gradually 



OP AGES. 259 

disappears, the pulmonary arteries are considerably- 
developed, and from this time circulation assumes 
a new character, that it is to retain throughout life, 
and the venous blood is forever isolated from the 
arterial. Lastly, at this time the functions of rela- 
tion begin; as soon as the new being is born, he ex* 
periences painful sensation from the contact of the 
atmospheric air, and from the surrounding bodies; 
he utters cries, he agitates his body and little limbs, 
and thus proclaims his civil rights; from this mo- 
ment his life is composed of all the already described 
functions; the umbilical cord dries up, falls, and 
leaves behind an indelible cicatrix [navel); the body 
grows, new internal sensations announce his wants; 
materials are no longer brought to him already pre- 
pared for nutrition; the child clings to the breast of 
the mother, who provides for him an aliment ap- 
propriated to the delicate state of his digestive ap- 
paratus, but which requires his action, and prepares 
him to receive hereafter more solid substances, and 
more refractory to digestion; all the parts assume a 
more regular proportion, with the exception of the 
head, which still remains disproportionately volu- 
minous, the face puffed up, and the belly too large; 
secretions are very active, ossification continues, the 
epiphysis are gradually developed; the senses of 
hearing and sight are only brought to perform their 
respective functions towards the fifth or sixth week. 

At first, the child manifests no moral faculty, but 
he soon learns to know and to love his mother, to 
experience sensations, and to make his desires and 
will manifest. 

As to station and progression, these faculties are 
only gradually developed; the same thing occurs with 
respect to the phenomena of expression, which from 



260 OP AGES. 

the beginning are confined to gestures. Sleep is at 
first of long duration, it diminishes by degrees, un- 
til the duration of sleep is much shorter than that of 
watchfulness. 

But the organization of the child will soon un- 
dergo a new revolution; it is especially in the diges- 
tive apparatus that it will occur; in fact the milk of 
the mother soon becomes insufficient for his nutri- 
tion. This function requires more solid aliments, 
then the teeth begin to appear, the salivary organs 
are developed, and mastication is established. The 
cutting of teeth, (first dentition) begins in the in- 
ferior jaw; afterwards it happens in the superior, 
and they successively appear in the following man- 
ner: the middle and lateral incisors; next appear the 
small molars and canine teeth, then, finally, the se- 
cond molary successively appear, from the eighth 
month to the second year, the appearance of teeth 
sufficiently prove that the mode of alimentation of 
the child must be changed, that nutrition and growth 
must now depend upon more nutritive and substan- 
tial materials; moreover, the child, whose wants of 
food are urgent and frequent, craves the aliments of 
the adult, while at the same time the organic func- 
tions become more powerful and more active, and 
the general growth continually increases, and the 
body assumes a form of consistency. 

It is during the first period of life that the child 
acquires an amazing degree of knowledge; his senses 
by degrees unfold to him the exterior world, and 
teach him how to act on the surrounding bodies, 
his intellect is constantly active; thus we remark, 
at this time, the anterior part of the brain acquires 
a very considerable degree of development. But 
if at this age the mind is remarkable for its activity 



OF AGES. 261 

and aptitude, we must also observe that he is ex- 
tremely absent, and lacks reflection, and that the 
circle of his ideas would be extended without order 
and much profit, if education did not lend its aid in 
order to give to them a useful impulse by successively 
subjecting them to the different actions of the mind, 
to comparison, reflection, reasoning, judgment, 
&c. Man is the more easy of being modified in his 
first infancy, since his organs have not as yet con- 
tracted habits, that they have received transitory 
impressions only, and that they await, in some 
measure, in a favourable condition, the impulse of 
a director. 

article 2. 

Second Infancy. 

This second age begins at the time of the second 
dentition, which commonly begins at the seventh 
year until the first sign of puberty, i. e. until the 
fifteenth year. This age is characterized by the 
general development of the body, the progress of 
which appears somewhat retarded by the second 
dentition and the beginning of the action of the ge- 
nital organs. 

The loosening and shedding of the infantine teeth 
warn us a new change is going to occur in the appa- 
ratus of mastication; the germs of the second dentition 
are developed and ossify, afterwards their appear- 
ance happens from the seventh to the eighth year, and 
is continued nearly in the same manner and order, 
as in the dentition in the first infancy; the alveolar 
processes enlarge gradually to make room for the 
second teeth, and the two larger molar teeth which 
did not exist in the former dentition; at the same 



262 



OF AGES. 



time the features of the face expand and assume a 
new physiognomy. 

At this age the organic functions preserve all 
their energy, the stature increases considerably, but 
the body commonly loses flesh, {embonpoint,) the 
senses are most active, the intellectual faculties are 
more powerful, and can take a wider scope, senti- 
ments of morality begin to be developed and which 
are to serve as guides in the future social life, by 
instructing in the duties that each individual has to 
perform; the phenomena of expression presents a 
vivacity which reveals how easily and how deeply 
impressions are caused at this period, and how very 
great the energy of the mind is. Finally, towards 
the close of this period, there occur in the genital 
organs changes which are the forerunners of ano- 
ther revolution in the constitution. 

article 3. 

Of Adolescence. 

During this third period of life, which is charac- 
terized by puberty, and which, in our climate, 
(France) extends from the age of fifteen to twenty 
five, in men, and from fifteen to twenty-one in fe- 
males, the body acquires its full growth and com- 
plete organization; the distinction of the sexes is 
now very evident, and the genital organs have be- 
come capable of generation. 

The two sexes, which previously were almost 
blended by their physical attributes, are now going 
to assume their distinctive characteristic. Man 
presents a slender and tall stature, his complexion 
becomes darker, his skin loses its former fine tex- 
ture, and is covered with hair, especially about the 



OP AGES. 263 

genital parts, in the axilla, and over the anterior 
part of the chest; in the meanwhile the beard grows, 
the muscles become more prominent, the splanch- 
nic cavities, as well as the organic apparatus, acquire 
due proportions to the other parts of the body; final- 
ly, the sexual parts increase in size, the penis length- 
ens and the testicles enlarge. 

In woman, on the contrary, the skin retains the 
softness, delicacy, and beauty of youth, it even be- 
comes fairer; embonpoint augments, which moulds 
every limb into grace and beauty; her cheeks be- 
come more animated, her chest is more capacious, 
the mammae swell, the hips and pelvis widen; 
finally, the genital organs are completely developed 
and are covered with hair. 

In both sexes the thymus gland and the capsular 
renales are absorbed, ossification is completed, the 
larynx assumes all at once a considerable increase, 
the glottis lengthens and widens, as it was evident- 
ly demonstrated by Professor Richerand; finally, 
the maxillary, frontal, and spheroidal sinuses are 
developed. 

Such important modifications in the organization, 
must necessarily produce also like changes in the 
functions; in fact, they are at this time in their ut- 
most development; digestion is quick and easy, 
respiration is deep and soft, the blood is sent into 
every part of the body with energy, every thing 
announces the greatest degree of vitality in the or- 
gans; the follicular, cutaneous and genital excre- 
tions become very odorous; the benzoic acid of the 
urine is now replaced by urea. 

At this period, sensations have acquired their ut- 
most degree of delicacy, perceptions are' clear and ra- 
pid; but ideas succeed each other with too much rapi- 



264 OF AGES. 

dity to allow of being matured, decision or judgment 
anticipates reflection and reasoning, and its great 
activity often leads into error; this period is also 
that in which imagination begins its most brilliant 
career, and its ardour is still increased by the ex- 
alted desires which are soon to appear, and to im- 
press a new character to the whole organization. 
At first, undecided and without an object, the de- 
sires of which we wish to speak, impress momen- 
tarily a character of languor and indecision to 
movements, determinations, and to all the organic 
functions; the mind soon becomes dissatisfied, melan- 
choly; but the desires soon become r very expres- 
sive and produce the most universal passion — 
love. This new want, proclaimed in man by au- 
dacity and violence, in woman by modesty, co- 
quetry, and the desire of pleasing, coincides with 
the state of excitement of the organs of copulation, 
which are now endowed with an exquisite sensibili- 
ty, and under the slightest stimulating cause to en- 
ter frequently into a state of erection; from this mo- 
ment, the secretion of semen in man, and the men- 
strual discharges in females occur, and plainly pro- 
claim that the organs of reproduction have attained 
their state of maturity to fulfil their office. It is at 
this period that the disturbance and languor of the 
functions disappear, and these latter receive an ad- 
ditional degree of energy, from the last development 
and increase of activity of the genital organs. 

article 4. 

Of Virility or Manhood. 

During the adult period of life, which extends 
for man from the twenty -fifth to the sixtieth year 



OF AGES. 263 

of his age, and from twenty-one to fifty in females, 
the body still grows, the whole organization is 
perfected, and he enjoys the faculty of exercising 
with impunity the organs which excite us to copula- 
tion, the functions are in their utmost development, 
and are found in the condition we have already de- 
scribed whilst giving their history. At this period, 
every individual assumes a peculiar physiognomy; 
constitutions become strongly marked, and the body 
yields to the power of habit; every part has attain- 
ed to a full degree of strength and of condensation: 
thus do we see the organs more voluminous and 
more resisting; they have reached their maximum 
of power, and endure fatigues for a longer time; 
the functions, without having lost the least part of 
their delicacy, have gained in vigour and extent; 
this is also very remarkable in the functions of 
the intellectual acts, which are capable of a more 
continued exertion. During this period, man unites 
to the most beautiful qualities of the heart, all the 
mental powers of mature age; love is a powerful 
incentive to all his actions, the charm of the most 
lively pleasure attracts him towards the partner 
who shares his desires and his feelings, and entices 
him to contract the sacred ties of matrimony. 

But love is soon exhausted and yields to the desire 
of glory, riches, and honours; the want of connec- 
tion between the sexes becomes every day less im- 
perious, and we soon witness with sorrow and re- 
gret, the little frequency of erections, the flaccidity 
of the penis and testes, the softness of the breasts 
and nipples, the lengthening of the libia externa 
and nymphse, which become flabby and pendulous, 
proclaim the approaching decay of virility; in the 
meanwhile, the appetite diminishes, the teeth begin 
23 



266 OF AGES. 

The qualities of the heart are less fugitive than 
those of the mind, and if some vanish in the same 
degree as decrepitude advances, there are some 
which seem to survive the general deterioration of 
the organs. Friendship, for instance, loses, it is 
true, much of its warmth, but it still remains genu- 
ine and sincere; the love of offspring, the feelings of 
gratitude, and the reverence inspired by our Maker, 
are never extinguished but with life itself. 

With respect to motions, in old men, they become 
slow, and soon their performance is altogether im- 
possible; the bones are large, their tissue hard and 
compact, but their cavities are much dilated; they 
weigh less than those of the adult, their articula- 
tions are stiff, the muscles flabby, small and pale; 
finally, the phenomena of expression soon partici- 
pate in the general decrepitude, physiognomy gra- 
dually loses all its expression; the voice becomes 
hoarse, tremulous, and by degrees disappears. 

The sexual organs become very flaccid; from this 
moment their action is impossible, and the wise 
man will submit to the general laws of nature; but 
if mistaking for wants the illusion of his imagina- 
tion, or if, attempting to induce illusory desires 
by shameful means, the old man seeks to awake in 
the arms of love past enjoyments, he may probably 
meet, in a trial which exceeds his powers, with a 
severe punishment for his erotic delirium. 

Such is the abridged sketch of the most import- 
ant periods that man presents in the different stages 
of life; we have remarked in his organization and his 
functions, changes and continual modifications, mak- 
ing during life distinct periods — the ages; we have 
as much as possible referred them to lunar periods; 
but we must be on our guard not to attach too much 



OP AGES. 2Q1 

importance 10 these references; first, because they 
can only be, at last, an imperfect calculation; and 
secondly, because stages of life succeed each other 
with more or less rapidity, according to the climate, 
the manner of living, moral affections, and a multi- 
tude of other circumstances. For instance, we know 
that puberty begins very early in warm climates, 
that it begins very late in the northern regions. 
It is related, that B£h£, a dwarf --of the king of Po- 
land, was in a state of decrepitude while only 23 
•years old, &e. 



23' 



/ 



268 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 



CHAPTER II. 



OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 

Organization is the fundamental character of 
every living being; but this organization presents, 
in each subject, a number of individual modifica- 
tions, which impart to the phenomena of life im- 
mense differences, which mustfix the attention of the 
physiologist in as much as they are compatible with 
a healthy state. These differences or individual dis- 
tinctions, when considered in man, may be referred 
to the following: 1st, one or more organs may 
have their functions with a character of irregularity 
sometimes very singular, without, however, there 
resulting from this any general influence over the 
organization in general; these are named idiosyn- 
crasies. 2d, Other and more considerable differ- 
ences or causes, act on the apparatus of one of the 
principal functions and impress the w T hole economy 
with a peculiar physical and moral physiognomy, 
whence results what have been termed tempera- 
ments. 3d, Or, these individual distinctions may 
result from the repeated action of external agents, 
and from the continual exercise of the same organs: 
then they constitute acquired differences, called 
habits. 4th, Finally, there are certain individual 
organic modifications which seem to be intimately 
connected with the primitive organization of man; 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 269 

these give rise to the distinction of the different 
races of men. We shall briefly treat of each of 
these differences, in as many separate articles. 

ARTICLE 1. 

Of Idiosyncrasies. 

In its etymological sense the word idiosyncrasy 
is synonymous with temperament; but from the most 
common application, it designates an individual dif- 
ference, either acquired or congenital, consisting in 
a functional irregularity mostly confined to a single 
organ, the function of which contrasts in the most 
singular manner, with that which it commonly 
fulfils. 

Almost every practitioner has had it in his power 
to remark some of these singular anomalies; for there 
is not a single function in which we have not fre- 
quent occasion to remark similar instances; we shall 
therefore indicate those which are most remarkable 
in each of these functions. 

Digestion. It is related that a friend of the cel- 
ebrated Tissot was in the habit of vomiting after 
having eaten sugar, although he was in perfect 
health. In this respect, we know how much taste 
varies: thus some persons can eat with pleasure the 
most disgusting things; and often substances of an 
easy digestion, for the generality of persons, are in- 
digestible to others, &c. 

Absorptions. They present no less remarkable 
peculiarities than the preceding functions; witness 
the promptitude with which certain persons absorb 
putrid, deleterious and contagious miasma, while 
others exposed to the same influences escape unmo- 
lested. 



2 70 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 

Respiration. We are well aware, with respect 
to this function, that men present great differences; 
some have it naturally short and quick, whilst it is 
deep and slow in others. I am well acquainted 
with a person, otherwise well formed and in good 
health, who, after three or four inspirations, is in- 
voluntarily led to sigh deeply. 

Circulation. It likewise presents remarkable 
irregularities. Indeed., what great differences do we 
not observe in the quickness, duration and fulness 
of the pulse; it is related that the pulse of Napoleon 
only beat forty-four times in a minute. 

Assimilation, calorification and sec? t etions, are 
equally liable as the preceding to irregularities. 
For instance, we see men remain emaciated and of 
a spare habit in the midst of plenty and the com- 
forts of life, whilst another acquires strength and 
corpulence at the very time he even lacks the most 
common necessaries. 

Sensations. It is especially in the functions of 
sensibility that idiosyncrasies are most observable. 
What whims do we not remark in men with respect 
to the senses? With some, the touch of velvet pro- 
duces nausea and syncope; with others, the most sa- 
vory and dainty dishes become, for their taste, the 
most unpalatable food; the most delightful odours, 
for some persons, are the most detestable to others; 
the Hindoo holds in abhorrence the smell of viands, 
whilst Haller was scarcely conscious of the effluvia 
arising from putrified cadaverous bodies; Gaubius 
cites the case of a. man who could n<Dt bear the ema- 
nations from females; assafoetida and the chenopo- 
dium vulvaria are fancied by affected coquets to 
be the most fragrant and sweet odour; a young man 
is seized with epileptic fits every time he looks at 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 271 

a red object; a celebrated 'English chemist can not 
distinguish the deep orange colour (rutilante) of 
the nitrous acid. The sense of hearing presents 
just as many remarkable singularities: J. J. Rous- 
seau, relates, that a young man was afflicted with a 
retention of urine on hearing a bagpipe; see what 
amazing different effects are produced by harmo- 
nious music, on a clown and on a professed amateur 
of music, &c. 

The cerebral functions do not present fewer ano- 
malies; we know how men differ with respect to the 
nature and extent of their intelligence. Finally, in 
the functions of generation there are also anomalies; 
some enjoy in the act of copulation the most lively 
delight, while others do not derive from this ac- 
tion the least pleasure; the former may become the 
mother of a numerous and beautiful offspring while 
the latter, in spite of the most ardent desires, the most 
frequent and the best combined attempts, will leave 
her name, and her fortune without an heir. 

These idiosyncrasies are well known in their ef- 
fects, but we are entirely ignorant of their nature, 
and of their origin, as well as of a multitude of other 
natural phenomena; however, we refer them gene- 
rally to the peculiar texture of the organs, and their 
kind of sensibility. 

ARTICLE 2. 

Of Temperaments. 

We commonly designate, under the name of tem- 
perament, the individual differences, consisting in 
the variety of development, and activity of the di- 
verse organic apparatus of the human body, capable 
of modifying the whole organism, in an appreciable 



272 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 

manner, but nevertheless compatible with health 
and life. 

The ancients considered our bodies as formed by 
the union of four elements; the heat, the cold, the 
dry, and the humid, united in four different com- 
binations, to each of which they ascribed the pre- 
dominance of one of the four humours: the blood, 
the bile, the atrabile, the pituita, on which they 
particularly dwelt. According to this opinion they 
describe four principal temperaments, the san- 
guineous, the bilious or choloric, the atrabiliary, or 
melancholic, finally, the pituitous, or phlegmatic; 
afterwards from their combination they formed the 
mixed temperament, and the one resulting from 
their harmonious intermixture, was called temper- 
ate. They also described with so much eloquence 
and fancy, the physiognomy belonging to each 
of these temperaments, that their doctrine prevailed 
till a very late period with all the appearance of the 
greatest correctness. 

But then, what are these four elements, hot, cold, 
dry, and humid, except the products of a poetical ima- 
gination? In the second place, what do they mean by 
the atrabile, and the pituita? where are these hu- 
mours? who has seen them? 

Some modern physiologists admitted the sangui- 
neous, bilious, and phlegmatic temperaments of the 
ancients, ascribing them to the predominance of the 
vascular, lymphatic, and hepatic apparatus; subse- 
quently, they added two others, the nervous and the 
muscular or athletic. 

Halle, taking into consideration the influence of 
the general systems diffused throughout the whole 
economy, their peculiar disposition in the different 
regions of the body, and the predominance of some 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 273 

of the most important organs, distinguished the tem- 
peraments into general and particular. Thus, from 
the predominance of either the sanguineous or lym- 
phatic systems, or an equal distribution of each, he 
forms three general temperaments, which corres- 
pond to the sanguineous, bilious, and pituitary of 
the ancients: afterwards observing the nervous sys- 
tem in its susceptibility, of the duration of its im- 
pressions, the readiness with which they associate 
with and succeed each other, he demonstrates that 
these conditions arise from the preceding tempera- 
ments, on which they impress different modifica- 
tions. Finally, in considering another general sys- 
tem, the muscular apparatus, he establishes the 
athletic temperament, and the nervous convulsive 
temperament, when it coincides with the great ex- 
citability. With respect to the particular tempera- 
ments of Halle, they are owing, 1st, to the propor- 
tions which affect the different general tissues in the 
several regions of the body; 2d, and to the pre- 
dominance of certain organs: in this case, Haiti 
points out three principal ones, the pituitary, cha- 
racterized by the abundance of mucous excretions; 
the bilious, properly so called, in which biliary se- 
cretion predominates; finally, the melancholic, as- 
cribed to a special state of the hypochondriac viscera, 
and to the nervous epigastric centres. 

Lastly, M. JRostan has published a history of 
temperaments, if possible, still more physiological, 
taking, for its'foundation, the predominance or de- 
ficiency of the different organic apparatus, which in 
the human economy fulfil the most important func- 
tions. 

1. Temperament, in which the digestive appa- 
ratus predominates. The individual in whom this 



274 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 

apparatus predominates, is remarkable for his vora- 
cious appetite, the power of his stomach, and the ra- 
pidity of his digestion; a part of the bile, the secre- 
tion of which is very abundant, is absorbed, and 
passes again into the circulation, stimulates the in- 
ternal organs, and imparts to the whole surface a 
darker complexion. The man, thus constituted, is 
no less remarkable for the development of his in- 
tellectual faculties than the vivacity of his imagina- 
tion; he knows no moderation, he performs with 
violence and obstinacy, what he undertakes with 
audacity; in a word, his passions are impetuous. 
This is the temperament which belongs to tyrants, 
to men of genius, to benefactors, to conquerors, &c. 

2. Temper anient , in which the respiratory and 
circulatory apparatus predominate. It is charac- 
terized by the strong development of the chest, and 
of the thoracic organs, the power and activity of 
their function, the fulness and vivacity of the pulse; 
the organic functions are easily performed, move- 
ments are quick and easy; imagination is less vast, 
but animated and agreeable; the mind is unsteady, 
consequently unfit for meditation; the passions are 
less violent, impressions succeed each other with 
rapidity, and only leave fugitive traces. 

3. Temperament, in which the encephalon and 
its dependencies prevail. In the persons possessed 
of this constitution, life seems to have forsaken the 
vegetative functions, to impart the whole of its pow- 
er to the nervous apparatus; the body in this case 
is slender and thin; the skin is dry and cold, with a 
melancholic physiognomy; digestion slow and labo- 
rious; the pulse feeble and slow; movements are 
marked with circumspection; sensations, on the 
contrary, are lively, the passions unremitting, the 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 275 

man thus organized is possessed of a gloomy and 
unstable imagination, but always active, and of a 
very great penetration. When this constitution is 
united to the first just mentioned, then we have 
men who astonish the universe, such as Pascal, 
Rousseau* fyc. 

4. Temperament, in ivhich the locomotive ap- 
paratus predominates. In this temperament, on 
the contrary, all the organic functions are full of 
energy, the bones are very well developed, the 
muscles are strongly marked, the chest wide, the 
shoulders broad, the muscular fibres, being dense 
and strong, are capable of enduring the greatest ef- 
forts; but, on the other hand, to compensate for 
these advantages, sensations are quite obtuse, the 
mind heavy or very common,! the passions mode- 
rate, &c. 

5. Temperament, in ivhich the genital appara- 
tus prevails. It is characterized by a considerable 
development in the sexual organs, and the activity 
of its functions, by amorous desires incessantly re- 
newed, a lewd imagination, frequent erections, a 
strong and thick beard, a considerable corpulence, 
a low and sonorous voice. This erotic exaltation 
is more frequently met with in women than in men. 
It co-exists generally with great activity in the 
digestive organs; without this condition, the iuor- 

* We know no man, who better illustrates this latter tem- 
perament than Napolkox. Tbaxs. 

f Neverlhless, there are exceptions; Plato, for instance, af- 
ter having- vanquished in the arena, became the greatest ge- 
nius of his time.(l) 

(1) And we may also add the name of the immortal Wash" 
ington as an exception to this rule. TnAxs. 

24 



276 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, 

dinate use of this function inevitably leads to a pre- 
mature death. 

6. Temperament characterized by the atony 
of all the organs. The body is heavy, pale, and in- 
cumbered with too great a corpulence; the physiog- 
nomy is without expression, motions are slow and 
difficult, digestion is long and laborious, circulation 
without energy, the pulse soft, easy to compress. 
The moral faculties present not much more activity, 
sensations are indistinct, the mind is correct, but 
deficient in vivacity and penetration. The man 
endowed with this temperament, is indolent, inca- 
pable of enduring pains, exempt from passions, and 
very little fit for venereal pleasures. 

7. Finally, from the proper development of various 
organic apparatus, coinciding with a proportionate 
energy in the nervous system, Hostan deduces what 
he calls a strong constitution. Let it be understood, 
that he does not mean the muscular power which 
characterizes the athletic temperament, but that in- 
describable power by which health is rendered sta- 
ble, and opposing itself to the morbific causes which 
always tend to alter and destroy our constitution. 
From contrary combinations, or inverse circum- 
stances, we necessarily shall have an opposite con- 
stitution. It is by carefully and successively ob- 
serving the different functions, that we are enabled 
to judge of the energy, and of the proportion of 
their apparatus, and consequently of the degree of 
force or debility of the constitution; for every indi- 
vidual has one which is peculiar to himself, and this 
is another great source of peculiar and individual 
distinctions. 

All the individual differences that we have just 
studied, may be natural or acquired. There is not 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 277 

the least doubt that parents transmit to their chil- 
dren their physical or moral resemblance, and con- 
sequently, some of their morbid and intellectual 
dispositions, &c. It is undeniable that children are 
born endowed with a peculiar organization, from 
which often results their future temperament, and 
the degree of strength of their constitution; but it is 
equally correct to say that this primitive organiza- 
tion may be modified by the influence of exterior 
circumstances, so as to receive a particular character 
and utterly different dispositions: in fact, what 
amazing differences do we not observe between the 
men who inhabit the temperate or ardent tropical 
climates, and those who live among the glacial re- 
gions of the poles; between the man who is sur- 
rounded with all the comforts of this life, and he 
who feeds on privations and wretchedness; between 
the temperate and sober man, and he who spends 
his life in riot and debauchery; between the man 
who leads an active life, and he who shamefully 
leading a life of idleness, abandons his organs to a 
continual and disgraceful repose; between the man 
whose intellectual and moral faculties have been 
cultivated, and the unfortunate person who has not 
enjoyed the blessings of a good education; lastly, 
between those who taste the sweets and happiness 
of liberty, and those who are condemned to servi- 
tude and oppression. 

ARTICLE 3. 

Of Habits. 

The name of habit has been given to functional 
modifications, which constitute a new organic law as 



278 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 

influential as natural power, and resulting from the 
repetition of actions or sensations long continued. 

The economy of man yields to the influence of 
habit more than any other animal, and this peculiar 
condition was indispensable to the part he has to 
perform in the universe; in fact, man, created capable 
of inhabiting every quarter of the globe, must re- 
quire and enjoy great flexibility of organization to 
accustom himself to the various climates and to the 
diverse aliments they necessarily produce; doomed 
to live by the product of his industry, and benefit 
by the same society at large; it is especially to the 
great flexibility of his organs that he is indebted for 
his astonishing degree of superiority in the arts and 
sciences. 

Every stage of life is not equally influenced by 
habits; for instance, in the same degree as it is easy 
for children or females to contract a new habit, in 
the same proportion the hardened organs of the old 
man refuse to yield to the introduction of a new ha- 
bit in his manner of acting. 

Habits exercise their sway over all the functions; 
we shall briefly examine them each individually. 
And, first of all, who is not acquainted with its in- 
fluence on digestion; it regulates the epochs at which 
appetite is felt; it is the same cause which so im- 
periously calls for certain aliments and particular 
drinks; it also often rules the taste and quantity; 
finally, it is by habit that the most indigestible ali- 
ments or even deleterious substances, no longer 
produce their usual effects. The history of Mithri- 
dates is well known, who could not put an end to 
himself by the use of the most active poisons, be- 
cause he had previously been accustomed to their 
action; we are also acquainted, that numerous tribes 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. ^79 

in the east eat great quantities of opium with impu- 
nity; and experience daily proves to the physician, 
that remedies cease to act whenever the dose is not 
gradually augmented, or by a too long continued 
use of the same article. 

Respiration is no less influenced by habit; that 
night-men are enabled to breathe in an atmosphere 
in which we should suffocate. I read the remarka- 
ble history of a prisoner, who after having been con- 
fined for thirty years in an unhealthy dungeon, had 
a fit of illness when he was taken out of it, and 
could not be restored to health but by returning to 
his infected cell. 

It is especially over sensations that the influence 
of habit is very considerable. We are aware how 
much the impressions of cold and heat may be mo- 
dified; we know also how much the delicacy of the 
sense of touch and other senses may be developed 
by habit: a very singular instance is related of a 
blind man who could tell the colour of a stuff about 
which persons with good eyes disagreed by candle 
light. Taste and smell is no less susceptible of be- 
ing perfected by habit; what immense difference 
does not exist among men with respect to the nicety 
of the palate and nose? The same is the case with 
regard to the ear. Consider the Indian who can 
distinguish the step of an enemy at a prodigious 
distance; behold the musician whose ear is shocked 
at a false note in a full orchestra; sight is also capa- 
ble of acquiring a great degree of perfection. But 
if habit extends the sphere of the senses, it most 
frequently confines it, by blunting them: thus the 
sense of touch loses much of its nicety by rough 
work; that a savoury dish no longer produces any 
impressions on a palate impaired by the habit of 
24* 



280 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 

using strong spices; that a man who makes use of 
tobacco is obliged to augment gradually the strength 
and the dose; that the sense of hearing becomes hard 
by continual noise, and that the sight loses much of 
its delicacy when it is accustomed to too great a 
light, &c. &c. 

Voluntary movements are influenced by habit in 
a very remarkable manner; by habit they acquire 
that astonishing degree of precision and agility; and 
it is by habit that the muscles become susceptible of 
producing the greatest efforts. The duration of sleep 
also, is not unfrequently the result of habit. 

Finally, we also remark the influence on the 
functions of generation: Professor Richerand re- 
lates the very remarkable case of a shepherd, who 
almost during forty years successively made use of 
his hand, of a stick, and of a sharp instrument, in 
order to procure the voluptuous sensation which com- 
monly attends the ejaculation in coition, and which 
in this individual was gradually extinguished by 
the habit of masturbation which he repeated several 
times in the course of the day. At other times, onan- 
ism produces a contrary effect; it plunges the sexual 
organs in such a degree of excitation that the slight- 
est friction produces the seminal ejection. Finally, 
it is well known that the habit of indulging in the 
erotic pleasures enables us to support their excess. 

From the preceding remarks, we gather that 
Bichat was mistaken when he supposed that habit 
extended its influence only over the animal func- 
tions; it is now placed beyond a doubt that the ve- 
getative functions are equally subjected to its law; 
and this result was easy to anticipate by reflecting 
that vegetables themselves are influenced by the ha- 
bit of being in a peculiar soil, localities, &c. 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 281 

We have already observed that habits are the re- 
sult of the continuation of the same actions or im- 
pressions; and this we may have remarked in the 
analysis we have just given, since we have seen that 
sometimes the actions, at other times the sensations, 
were modified by their repetition. 

The general effect of habit is to remove the func- 
tions from the natural organic law, and to assume 
over the actions and will of man a tyrannical sway, 
from which he can not free himself without exposing 
his health to the most serious accidents; this is the 
reason why habit has received the well-deserved ap- 
pellation of second nature. With respect to their 
immediate effect, it hasgenerally been repeated, after 
Bichat, that they blunt sentiment and improve 
judgment. Nevertheless, if it be true, as we have al- 
ready shown, that they gradually lead sensations to 
indifference, it has also been demonstrated that habits 
can exalt them to a very high degree; witness the sa- 
vage who can hear at an astonishing distance, and the 
musician who leads an orchestra. Professor jRiche- 
rand to this observes, that the ears are not the or- 
gans that hear, and that the impressions they receive 
must be considered as the cause of the sensation, the 
perceptions of which is entirely confined to the cere- 
brum ; but does this objection bear on the case of the 
prisoner, who had acquired such great susceptibility 
of receiving impressions on the eyes, that he was 
enabled to distinguish perfectly, objects in his dark 
dungeon, and to whom day-light had become intol- 
erable? Messrs. Rostan, JLdelon, and other physi- 
ologists admit, 1st, that gradually augmenting ex- 
citations at last blunt sensations; 2d, that gentle 
impressions increase the sensibility of the organs, 
and exalt it to such a degree, that strong impressions 



2S2 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 

become painful; 3d, finally, that the organs lose or 
acquire aptitude or energy, according as the repeti- 
tion of their actions is more or less continued, and 
requires from them more or less activity. 

It is impossible for man to withstand the power 
of habit, for there are many which irresistibly sub- 
jugate him; but in these he generally finds laws 
which regulate and facilitate his life; whilst there 
are a multitude of others that are solicited by social 
circumstances, and which, most frequently, are very 
pernicious; he must avoid them as much as lies in 
his power, or he will continually create for himself 
new tyrannical wants, in which he must indulge, or 
suffer in the denial. 

article 4. 
Human Races. 

The distinctions between human races are founded 
on the generic differences of the primitive organiza- 
tion of man; their study exclusively belongs to na- 
tural history; therefore we shall confine ourselves 
simply to relate, in this place, the opinions of the 
most eminent naturalists on this interesting subject. 

Buff on acknowledged but one human species; 
he says that all the races are linked to each other 
from one climate to another, and that the peculiar 
characters remarked are the result of exterior in- 
fluences; however, it is generally admitted, that the 
species are not so distinct as in the brutes; but are 
what has been called races. M. Cuvier has divided 
them into three: the Caucasian or white, the Ethio- 
pian or black, and the Mongolian or yellow. 

1. Caucasian Race. This race is the most hand- 
some, and the most perfect; it is remarkable for its 
oval head, and for its very great facial angle. It 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 2S3 

inhabits Europe, Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, the 
Peninsula this side of the Ganges, Arabia, the 
northern parts of Africa, and on the north of Mount 
Atlas, &c. 

2. Ethiopian Race. This race has some fea- 
tures in its organization which assimilate it to the 
monkey. The forehead is depressed, the cranium 
has less capacity than in the preceding race; the 
whole face is proportionately too much developed; 
the maxillary bones project out, especially the in- 
ferior, which is very long; the inter-maxillary bones 
are met with in the embryo, which never happens 
in our race; the lips are very thick; the molar bones 
are prominent; the zygomatic apophysis very much 
arched; the nose is flat; the hair is crisped, woolly, 
and very fine; the skin, the blood, the cortical sub- 
stance of the brain, and some other interior parts 
are black. This race is not so numerous as the first; 
it inhabits Africa from the southern parts of Mount 
Atlas, to the cape of Good-Hope. 

3. Finally, the Mongolian or Tartar race, has an 
olive-coloured complexion, with thin hair and beard, 
short and black, the head is large, the molar bones 
very prominent, the eyes are oblique from above 
downwards, and from without inwards. They in- 
habit the extent of the globe comprehended between 
the eastern parts of Asia and the Caspian sea, and 
the southern ocean, China, Chinese Tartary, and 
Japan; this is the most ancient race. 

To the three above mentioned races, Lacipede 
adds two others, the American race, with copper 
coloured complexion, and inhabiting North Ameri- 
ca; and the hyperborean races, such as the Lap- 
landers, Greenlanders, Samoiedes, &c. The Al- 
binos, Cretins, and Cagots, are generally consider- 
ed as individuals affected with peculiar diseases. 



284 SYMPATHIES AND SYNERGIES. 



CHAPTER III. 



OF SYMPATHIES AND SYNERGIES. 

In the particular history of the functions of man, 
we have pointed out the principal relations that he 
established with exterior bodies, in order to insure 
his own existence. We shall in this place briefly 
examine the numerous and diversified connections 
which unite the various parts of his organization; we 
are already acquainted with their functional rela- 
tions; we know, for instance, that biliary secretion 
is closely connected with digestion; that the same is 
the case with respiration respecting circulation, 
calorification and secretions; that the action of the 
senses is united with the operations of the mind, &c. 
It now remains for us to study sympathies and 
synergies. 

We designate by the name of sympathies, the in- 
voluntary modifications which occur in one or seve- 
ral distant organs, induced by an impression re- 
ceived from another, without our being able to refer 
this modification to the functional relations of the 
parts. 

Barthez was the first to distinguish sympathies 
from synergies, and he comprehended under this 
last expression, the concurrence of simultaneous or 
successive actions of the various organs, for the ac- 
complishment of a function; for instance, he con- 



SYMPATHIES AND SYNERGIES. 285 

siders the contraction of the diaphragm and abdo- 
minal muscles in defecation as being synergy. M. 
Richer and has kept up this distinction; M. Melon, 
on the contrary, thinks that it is an object of no im- 
portance; he pretends that in both cases, the relation 
is of an identical nature, and is owing to the same 
cause. I am far from being of the same opinion 
with this latter physiologist; he is certainly right 
when he wishes to destroy this distinction, in the 
action of the pharynx in deglutition; for as soon as 
the alimentary bolus has passed the isthmus of the 
throat, the pharynx contracts sympathetically, i. e. 
independently of every kind of will. But what re- 
semblance does there exist between the action of 
the abdominal muscles, which is entirely voluntary, 
and the irresistible influence of the uvula over the 
stomach, of the retina over the iris, &c? What do 
they mean by a sympathy which can be produced or 
stopped at will? 

The number of sympathies is very considerable, 
and their object is no less diversified; we shall brief- 
ly examine them. 

1. They may be developed in the different parts 
of the same organ, tending to accomplish the same 
function; thus, for instance, the iris is either con- 
tracted or dilated, according as the light which 
reaches the retina is more or less powerful; there 
exist undoubtedly between the different parts of the 
ear analogous sympathies, that are concealed from 
us by the depth of their situation. In some cases, 
sympathies are developed in very distant organs of 
the same apparatus; such are the relations existing 
between the uterus and mammas. 

2. We often observe sympathies between differ- 
ent parts of continuous membranes; these are the 



286 SYMPATHIES AND SYNERGIES. 

sympathies of continuity of Hunter. Thus, for 
instance, the uvula in tasting, in a manner, the ali- 
mentary paste or bolus, predisposes the stomach to 
receive with more or less pleasure or to reject it 
All the parts of the membrane lining the digestive 
tube seem to possess similar reciprocal relations. 

It is by sjnnpathies of this kind that the presence 
of worms in the intestinal canal induces an itching 
in the nose, that a vesical calculus is accompanied 
with a peculiar sensation in the fossa navicularis 
and glans, which becomes unpleasant or painful; 
that an irritation applied to the orifice of an ex- 
cretory canal is communicated to all its ramifi- 
cations, &c. 

3. At other times sympathies are developed be- 
tween parts immediately contiguous; for instance, 
the blood, which arrives in the cavities of the heart, 
produces on the membrane which lines them, an 
impression which immediately excites the action 
of the fleshy la3*er of the heart; it is by the same 
mechanism that the disagreeable impression of the 
stomach, is communicated to the muscular coat and 
to the abdominal muscles, and solicits vomiting; that 
the presence of the aliments in the digestive tube, 
produces the peristaltic contractions of this canal in 
a more energetic manner than a direct irritation 
even could produce, as was demonstrated by experi- 
ments both by Bichat and Nysten; that the irrita- 
tion of the nasal fossae induces sneezing, that the 
introduction of a foreign body in the bronchiae, 
induces cough, &c. Such are the sympathetic re- 
lations, that Hunter calls sympathies of conti- 
guity. 

4. Sympathies seem to unite closely the organs, 
the structure and functions of which are analogous; 



SYMPATHIES AND SYNERGIES. 287 

these sympathies become evident, especially in a 
morbid condition; thus, for instance, we see in a 
very short time the inflammation of a tonsil disap- 
pears and is transferred to the other; we are well 
acquainted with what rapidity an articular rheuma- 
tism is transferred from one joint to another; it is 
not unfrequent to see this affection, at first fixed on 
one muscle, to go through the whole locomotive ap- 
paratus in a very short time. 

The following case is the most remarkable with 
which I am acquainted on this kind of sympathies: 
Barthez relates, on the authority of Z/iedon, that a 
blister applied on a paralysed arm produced its cus- 
tomary effect only on the corresponding part of the 
opposite limb. Some physiologists refer to the 
same sympathies, the harmony existing in the 
movements of the eyes. 

5. Finally, there are sympathies which radiate 
from a single organ through the whole economy, or 
reciprocally. Let us suppose, for instance, the 
blood impoverished by a too prolonged abstinence 
from food, soon the organ, finding no longer suffi- 
cient nutrition to repair the losses of the economy, 
suffer and languish; it is the stomach they solicit, 
it is this organ which warns us of their wants; no 
sooner is hunger satisfied than the organism pro- 
claims a fresh energy, even before digestion has 
fairly begun. 

The genital apparatus is another centre or focus no 
less prolific of general sympathetic radiations; all its 
actions are felt or re-echoed (if I may be permitted 
the expression,) throughout the whole economy. 
This apparatus in females seems to hold under its 
dependence their organism, as was remarked by the 
ancients, uterus est animal vivens in muliere. 
25 



2SS SYMPATHIES AND SYNERGIES. 

The cerebral functions are also in the same case. 
Behold a man whose mind is seriously engaged; all 
his functions languish, all his wants are torpid; let 
the same person pass to light, pleasing, and agree- 
able amusements, his functions will immediately 
reassume all their accustomed energy and activity, 
and his wants will be lively and urgent. Passions 
produce likewise general sympathetic effects; if they 
are of a mild and tender kind, the body experiences 
an indescribable happiness of feelings, (bienetre,) 
the soul is satisfied, and the mind is brilliant; the 
contrary occurs when the passions are violent. 
Every one knows the adage, he melts with love, fil 
<ie stcJie d* amour.) 
The sympathetic phenomena vary in different in- 

•Juals, according as this or that apparatus of or- 
gans predominates in the econom)-; for instance, 

.e brain, or the digestive, or genital apparatus 
predominates, sympathies will have in each case 
individual peculiarities; finally, sympathies are also 
liable to vary in force and extent, by more or less 
activity in the organs, or by their morbid condition; 

he latter case sympathies become more obvious, 
and all the organs may become the seat or centre 

■ers) of general radiations (fevers;) but in 
every case the intensity of the general sympathetic 
disturbance varies, according to the intensity and 
nature of the affection, and according to the nor- 
mal organization and activity of the affected appa- 
ratus. 

We are now able to observe, that in all sympa- 
thies we have had two things to consider, their seat 
f foyer,) or point of departure, and the extent of 
their radiations. This is what Bichat called active 
and passive sympathies; these are incorrect expres- 



SYMPATHIES AND SYNERGIES. 289 

sions, and calculated to create false or erroneous 
ideas. 

Now, what is the agent by virtue of which sym- 
pathies are developed? In a word, what is their or- 
gan? Physiologists are far from agreeing on its as- 
signation. Whytt ascribes them to the soul; M. 
Roux thinks, that sympathies are independent of 
organization; and he considers them as the result of 
vital properties, to which he gives, consequently, a 
real existence. Bordeu attributes them to oscilla- 
tory movements of the cellular tissue; other physi- 
ologists have tried to explain them by means of the 
vascular system; but the hypotheses advanced with 
respect to this subject are untenable.* Finally, some 

* The candid and philosophical confession of Professor N. 
Chapman, on our entire ignorance of the nature of sympathy, 
is far preferable, with a lover of truth, to the finest spun hypo- 
theses on the agent or nature of this mysterious, but no les ex- 
isting cause. We think it proper, in this place, to quote from 
Professor Chapman's Therapeutics, the following passage, 
which ought to be well impressed on the mind of every stu- 
dent, whenever he hears or utters the word sympathy. 

"It must be confessed, we have no very distinct intelligence 
relative to its nature. But are we on this account to question 
its existence ? Equally might we doubt the sensibility or irri- 
tability of the body, since neither of these qualities of vital 
matter has been at all demonstrated. Notwithstanding this, 
we are persuaded of their existence, from the phenomena 
which they exhibit — and it is by the same description of evi- 
dence, that we are, or ought to be, assured of the existence 
of sympathy. 

* Causa latet: vis est notissima.* 

" In employing this term, therefore, I mean only to denote, 
like chemical affinity, caloric, and many other such expres- 
sions, a principle or power, of which we know nothing except 
from the experience of its effects, the precise essence or nature 
being occult and concealed" Tbaxs, 



290 SYMPATHIES ASB SYNERGIES. 

ancient writers, and most of the modern authors, 
ascribe all the sympathies to the nervous system. 
In fact, it is the system most widely diffused in the 
economy, and all its parts terminate in a common 
centre; in a word, its actions are as rapid as thought 
itself: Such are undoubtedly the most favourable 
conditions for a clear and satisfactory explanation of 
the sympathetic phenomena. 

The nervous system may establish sympathetic 
connections in two ways: 1st, the organs, between 
which sympathies occur, communicate with each 
other through the ramifications of the same nerve 
or through anastomoses; 2d, or the sympathetic 
radiation terminates in the nervous centre, whence 
it is reflected on one or several organs. 

From these two sympathetic conditions result, 
1st, direct sympathies, that Vieussens, Meckel, 
and Boerhaave believed to be the only ones. 2d, 
Cerebral sympathies, that Willis, Haller, Brous- 
sais, Georget and Jidelon, consider to be the most 
numerous. 

An acquaintance with the effects of sympathies 
is of the utmost importance, and we daily meet in 
the practice of medicine, with cases in which their 
existence is made manifest; it is by them that we 
are often induced to apply or use a remedy in this 
or that part according as it sympathizes more or 
less with the affected organ, &c. 

Synergies differ from sympathies only because 
they are entirely dependent upon volition; and they 
consist in simultaneous or successive actions, volun- 
tarily directed to the accomplishment of the same 
object. We have already remarked the pharynx 
contracting irresistibly at the time of deglutition, 
and the iris also to shut up closer, independently of 



SYMPATHIES AND SYNERGIES. 291 

volition, under the influence of a lively light. We 
shall see that the same is not the case with the action 
of the abdominal muscles in defecation, in labour, 
and in the excretion of urine. When, for instance, 
the call for the passage of the faeces becomes irre- 
sistible, after having been for a long time suppressed, 
we do not remark the abdominal muscles contract 
in a sympathetic or involuntary manner; but what 
we may easily remark, is, that the fecal matter is 
ejected from the anus by the simple action of the 
rectum, and if obedient to a pleasure which induces 
us to join to it a secondary power, then we ordinari- 
ly associate the action of the abdominal muscles; 
but their contraction is, nevertheless, in every case, 
dependent upon volition: the same thing is the case 
in labour (accouchement); we are, in fact, well aware 
that females can prevent the action of abdominal 
muscles, at the time of the contractions of the uterus; 
is it not from this fact that we encourage the female 
patient to take advantage of her pains, not to eat, 
or not to check her pains? Finally, it is also by 
volition that the abdominal muscles are associated 
to the action of the bladder, to produce the excre- 
tion of urine. 



25' 



292 DEATH* 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF DEATH, CADAVEROUS PHENOMENA, AND PUTRE 
FACTION. 

Nature having endowed us with the faculty of 
reproducing ourselves, was unavoidably obliged to 
impose on us the inexorable necessity of dying; 
otherwise the globe would soon be incumbered, and 
would be insufficient to contain our continually in- 
creasing species, without the foreseen and indispen- 
sable ravages committed by death. We designate 
under this name the utter and definitive cessation of 
the phenomena of the organization, the harmonic 
union of which characterizes life; it is the termina- 
tion of our career. It is distinguished into two 
species, natural death, and accidental death. 

1. Of natural death. In the study of ages we 
have just made, we have observed the organization 
gradually reach, by a series of stages, the brilliant 
period of life, and to remain for some time in a 
seemingly stationary state; we have afterwards fol- 
lowed it in all the stages of its decline, and in this 
last period we have pointed out the progress of the 
deterioration of the organs; we have seen the func- 
tions languish, even completely disappear, and the 
rapid course of decrepitude to announce an ap- 
proaching death. Digestion every day slower,' and 
more imperfect, affords but little chyle, and that 



DEATH. 293 

not well elaborated; respiration slackened, only pro- 
duces an imperfect haematosis, the blood being cold 
and impoverished by all the above mentioned rea- 
sons, is sent but partially into all the organs, the 
life of which becomes progressively languishing and 
uncertain. For a long time the power of reproduc- 
tion has ceased to make any call on the subject; and 
the blunted senses are every day more and more 
obliterated; all the faculties of the mind and of the 
heart are gradually spent; the voice is weakened 
and soon extinguished; in a word, the circle of the 
vital phenomena becomes every day narrower. 
Man in this state soon loses the recollection of his 
own existence, and from this moment he no longer 
lives for himself; like to an oak which dries up, by 
slowly exhausting the little sap which yet remains, 
and the least commotion, the least disturbance, 
would suffice to stop for ever the spring of life; but 
he still exists; and innervation, respiration, and cir- 
culation, prolong for a short time a lifeless existence, 
and seem to reach the last degree of exhaustion by 
reciprocally supporting each other; finally, one of 
these languishing functions ceases, and immediately 
the whole edifice falls into ruin. From these three 
roots of life, it is probable that innervation is the 
first to be overcome; that from this moment the ac- 
tion of the lungs is arrested, and that, finally, the 
blood, being no longer admitted into these organs, 
gathers in the right cavity of the heart which dies 
the last. 

2. Of accidental death. We understand, by this 
event, when man is struck with death before his or- 
gans are deteriorated by the ordinary course of life, 
and he is not subdued by exhaustion. This kind of 
death is without doubt the most common in our 



294 DEATH. 

times; and it seems that its frequency augments as 
the world becomes older and civilization advances. 
Its causes, although very numerous, may be referred 
to the following: 1st, the privation of air and ali- 
ments; 2d, the mechanical disorganization of the 
first apparatus of life; 3d, the substances which, in- 
troduced into our economy, destroy the organs, or 
annihilate the nervous action, the spring of life; such 
are poisons; 4th, finally, all the morbid movements 
which are so frequently developed in our organs, 
spontaneously, or influenced by a natural agent. 

It is easy to conceive that from this great diversity 
of the causes of accidental death, the accompanying 
phenomena must be various and infinite. Some- 
times one of these causes inflicts a violent lesion on 
one of the central organs, then death is sudden or 
happens soon after; at other times, it acts with a 
sort of caution, the progress of the affection that it 
solicits is slow, the deterioration of the organs comes 
on gradually, and induces in six months, or one or 
two years, a premature old age; death, in this case, is 
slower the less important the affected organ is to 
life. 

Death, we have already remarked above, is the 
entire discontinuation of the vital acts; but now, 
what is the cause of this cessation of life, or, in a 
word, what is the cause of death? When man is 
subdued by the disorganization of one of the central 
organs, or the disorganization is the consequence of 
a complete disturbance, conveyed sympathetically 
in all the functions, through the sufferings of an or- 
gan, then, in this case, death has nothing which 
ought to astonish us, or that physiologists can not 
explain. If, for instance, innervation is suspended 
or exhausted by a direct or sympathetic alteration 



DEATH. 205 

of the nervous centres, or by a cerebral hemorrhage, 
or by pain. I hope it will be easy to conceive how 
the loss of the first spring of the economy should 
necessarily cause that of all the others; the same 
thing occurs here as in a watch, the main spring of 
which happens to be broken. The same thing will 
take place, but in a different manner, if the lungs 
or heart happens to be hindered in their functions. 
In the former case, sanguification, being very im- 
perfect or even interrupted, will prepare for the or- 
gans only a cold and impoverished aliment, w T hich 
will soon be insufficient to excite to action the ner- 
vous centres; in the second case, if the heart is af- 
fected, the languor or the stoppage of its action, will 
produce the same effects over the focus of innerva- 
tion and of life, &c. In a word, accidental deaths 
commonly have nothing in themselves, for which 
we can not account. 

Natural death, at the first glance, seems more ex- 
traordinary and more difficult to explain; we shall 
see that it occurs by the progressive decrease of the 
four fundamental functions of life. In the last 
periods of decrepitude, the appetite, which for a long 
time had lost from day to day all its activity, ends 
in completely disappearing, or almost completely; 
the few aliments which reach the digestive tube are 
but slowly and imperfectly digested, a very small 
quantity of chyle, very little animalized,'is with dif- 
ficulty conveyed together with the venous blood 
into the lungs; these organs, the ossified aerian tubes 
of which are often narrowed, have lost a great part 
of their vascularity by the obliteration of their ca- 
pillary vessels, (as we observe it in the placenta as 
the foetus approaches the period at which the child 
is going to change its mode of life), and in conse- 



296 DEATH. 

quence of these changes, haematosis is no longer 
executed but with difficulty, and in a very imper- 
fect manner; on the other hand, the heart flabby, 
and without energy, sends only with hesitation the 
blood into all the organs; the ossification of the ar- 
teries, the obliteration of the capillary vessels, aid 
the sluggishness of the circulation; the veins, being 
dilated, lose their elasticity, and the return of the 
blood becomes more and more slow and difficult; in 
the mean time the brain withers, the nerves become 
tough and hard; consequently, the activity of inner- 
vation progressively diminishes, and the already 
languishing life of organism, loses the remainder of 
its energy. These four principal functions de- 
teriorate at every instant, and hasten their destruc- 
tion by their reciprocal influence; finally, life is ex- 
tinguished as we have already mentioned before. 

Such are evidently the causes of natural death; 
they are, as we have seen, less obscure than is gene- 
rally promulgated. But what is entirely in dark- 
ness, and what must remain probably for a long 
time unknown, is the cause of the succession of 
ages, and of the infinite modifications that organiza- 
tion experiences in the course of life, and in conse- 
quence of the series of the deteriorations which 
leads to death; in order to unveil this mystery, it 
would be necessary to discover the principle and 
the essence of life. 

Cadaverous phenomena. As soon as the body 
has ceased to live, it takes the name of cadaver or 
corpse; from this moment it presents the following 
characters; 1st, it loses by degrees its heat, and be- 
comes as cold as ice; this effect is the sooner felt, as 
the stillness has been longer, and emaciation greater; 
2d, it is in a state of complete insensibility; 3d, it is 



DEATH. 297 

motionless, and only obeys the impulse of foreign 
bodies or its own weight; 4th, it presents a remark- 
able state of flaccidity or stiffness; during the first 
moments which immediately follow death, all the 
parts become flabby and pale; but in proportion as 
animal heat is dissipated, the tissues resume some 
consistence, the muscles experience a kind of con- 
traction or rigidity which produces the cadaverous 
stiffness, generally supposed to be a remainder of 
contractile power. 

It is not uncommon to observe some phenomena 
of vegetative life to continue even after death; thus 
M. Magendie has remarked that absorption could 
be carried on; other physiologists assert having seen 
the beard and hair grow; some think that digestion 
can yet make a last effort; we know at least that this 
function, as well as several others, have been pro- 
longed in cadavers by means of galvanism. Some 
authors have asked if secretions do not continue for 
a certain time after death: we know with certainty 
that some secretions occur; thus the rectum, the 
bladder, and the uterus, are known to have frequent- 
ly accomplished after death, their actions of ordi- 
nary excretions. 

With respect to the fluids, they remain stagnant 
in their vessels. The blood accumulates in the venag 
cavse, in the right cavities of the heart and the ves- 
sels of the lungs; the arteries empty themselves by 
their own elasticity, and in the same degree as the 
animal heat is dissipated, the capillary vessels con- 
tract, and the tissues become pale in proportion as 
the blood retreats into the larger veins; from this 
moment, obedient to the laws of gravitation, it is 
conveyed into the most declining parts, and the dif- 
ferent tissues are thus impregnated with it. Hence 



29S DEATH. 

those livid spots that we remark in the various re- 
gions of the body, and those red or violet stripes 
which point out the course of the veins. The bile 
likewise transudes through the walls of its reservoir 
and of its duets, and colours with a yellow tinge 
the neighbouring parts. When the cadaver is en- 
tirely cold, the blood first coagulates in the cavities 
of the heart, afterwards in the veins, and it experi- 
ences in its vessels the same alterations as if cooled 
in the air. Finally, a particular labour of decom- 
position is now going to take place in the cada- 
ver, and to restore to the chemical and physical 
laws the elements of a body just now living and 
animated. 

Putrefaction. It is a spontaneous movement of 
decomposition, occurring in the body when it is 
entirely deprived of life; it is, according to Thourct, 
the only decisive character of death. The period 
at which this happens can not be determined in a 
positive manner, since a multitude of peculiar cir- 
cumstances may retard or hasten it considerably; as 
the kind of life led by the individual, the kind of 
disease to which the individual has fallen a victim, 
the place in which the body has been deposited, the 
degrees of temperature and humidity of the atmo- 
sphere, &c. Nevertheless, it may be asserted in a 
general manner, that it takes place from the fourth, 
to the eighth day, when the body is exposed to the 
open air, for it occurs more slowly in cadavers 
which have been interred. 

As soon as it begins to be manifest, the soft parts 
gradually soften, the cadaverous stiffness disappears, 
the humours become fluid and transude through all 
the parts, which they impregnate with their unplea- 
sant odour. Decomposition commonly begins in the 



DEATH. 290 

abdomen, and hence it is extended throughout the 
whole body; the epidermis first cfrops off; the flesh 
soon becomes soft, green, and drops off; the bones re- 
maining naked; and it is not until a long time after, 
that, deprived of all their organic parts, they are re- 
duced to dust. During this decomposition there is 
formed, by the reciprocal action of the fermentating 
elements, a great number of new bodies, the prin- 
cipal of which are: the hydro-sulphuric acid gas, 
carburated hydrogen, phosphuretted hydrogen, am- 
raoniacal gas, carbonic acid, and some earthy, or 
soapy solid products. 

Thus every thing which recalls to mind the ma- 
terial existence of man is dissipated, and gives birth 
to new bodies, the successive metamorphoses of 
which form an endless circle, which put us in mind 
of the metempsychosis of Pythagoras- 



THE END. 



26 



CONTENTS, 



Dedication', -•-.-,-••- 

The translator's preface, - 

The author's preface, - 

Definition of physiology, 

Introduction, - 

General consideration of natural bodies, - 

Differences existing between inorganic and organic bodies 

Their composition, 

Their origin, 

Their growth, 

Their end, 

Difference between vegetables and animals 

Their composition, 

Their nutrition, 

Sensibility, 

Locomotion, 

Generation, 

Of animals in general, 

Nutrition, 

Sensibility, 

Locomotion, 

Expressions, 

Generation, 

Classification of animals, - 

Of man, 

Organization of man, 

Of solids, or organs, 



»ASE. 

iii 
v 

IX 

11 
ib. 

ib. 

10 
z 



14 
ib. 

15 
ib. 

ib. 
16 
17 
18 

19 
21 
22 
ib. 

23 

24 



302 



CONTENTS. 



PISE. 

Of fluids, or humours, - - . . - 28 

Classification of the humours, - - - - 29 

Of vital force or principle, - - - - 30 

Phenomena of organization, - - - - 32 

Number of functions. - - . - - 33 

FIRST CLASS. 

LIFE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 

FIRST ORDER. 

Functions of Secretion. 



CHAP. I. Digestion, .... 


. 


35 


Article 1. Of aliments, 


_ 


ib. 


Of drinks, 


. 


36 


Article 2. Digestive apparatus, 


. 


37 


The mouth, - 


. 


ib. 


The pharynx and oesophagus, 


- 


38 


The stomach, - 


- 


ib. 


The intestines, 


- 


ib. 


Article 3. Mechanism of digestion, 


- 


40 


Hunger, 


- 


ib. 


Thirst, 


- 


42 


Apprehension of aliments, 


- 


43 


Mastication and insalivation, - 


- 


44 


Deglutition, - 


- 


45 


Accumulation of aliments in the 


sto- 




mach, 


- 


47 


Chymification, 


- 


ib. 


Hypotheses upon chymification, 


- 


49 


Accumulation of chyme in the duode- 




num, 


- 


52 


Chylification, - 


- 


ib. 


Chyle, 


- 


54 


Passage of the chyme into the jejunum, 


ib. 


Action of the larger intestine, 


- 


55 


Defecation, 


- 


. 56 


Anormal digestive excretions, 


- 


57 


Eructation, 


- 


ib. 


Regurgitation, 


- 


ib. 


Vomiting, 


- 


58 



OKTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Xausea, - - - -5$ 
Mechanism of vomiting, - - ib. 
Digestion of liquids, - - - 60 
CHAP. II. Absorption, - - - - 61 
Article 1. Digestive absorption, - - ib. 
Apparatus of digestive absorption, - lb. 
Mechanism of chylous absorption, - 62 
Progression of chyle, - - - 63 
Absorption of liquids, - - 64 
Article 2. Lymphatic absorption, - - 65 
Apparatus of internal absorption, - 66 
Mechanism of the lymphatic absorp- 
tion, - - - -67 
Progression of the lymph, - 68 
Of the lymph, - - - ib. 
Mechanism of venous absorption, - 69 
Venous blood, - - -70 
CHAP. III. Respiration, - - - - -71 
Article 1. Atmospheric air, - - - ib. 
Article 2. Respiratory apparatus, - 72 
Article 3. Mechanism of respiration, - - . 73 
• Want of respiration, - - - it. 
Inspiration, - - - - 74 
Expiration, - - - - 76 
Sanguification, - - -77 
Alteration of the air, - - 78 
Alteration of the venous blood, - ib. 
Vital theory, - - - - 79 
Chymical theory, - - 80 
Efforts, - . - - 83 
Coughing and snee2ing, - - ib. 
yawning", .... ;/>, 
Sighing, - - - 84 
Laughing, - ib, 
Weeping, - ib. 
Anhelation, - lb. 
Hiccup, .... iJ )m 
CHAP. IV. Circulation, - - - - 85 
Article 1. Apparatus of circulation, - - ib. 
26* 



304 CONTENTS. 

Of the heart, - - - - 85 

Of the arteries, - - N - 87 

Of the capillaries, - - 89 

Of the veins, ... ib. 

Article 2. Mechanism of circulation, - 90 

Circulatory action of the heart, - 91 

Circulatory action of the arteries, - 91 

Circulatory action of the capillaries, - 95 

Circulatory action of the veins, - 96 

Portal circulation, - - 97 

Foetal circulation, - - 98 

CHAP. V. Assimilation, - - - - 100 

Composition, .... ib. 

Decomposition, - - - - 102 

CHAP. VI. Calorification, - - - - 104 

Source of caloric, .... ib. 

Causes which tend to modify animal heat, - 106 

Heat, - - - - - ib. 

Cold, 107 

CHAP. VII. Secretions, - - - - - 108 

Article 1. Exhalations, .... ib. 

Serous, - - - - 109 

Cutaneous, - - - 110 

Adipose, - - - - 111 

Article 2. Follicular secretions, - - - 112 

Sebaceous, .... ib. 

Mucous, - - - - 113 

Article 3. Glandular secretions, - - - ib. 

1. Secretion of tears, - - ib. 
Lacrymal apparatus, - - ib. 
Mechanism, - - - 114 

2. Salivary secretion - - - ib. 
Mechanism, - - - 115 

3. Secretion of the pancreatic juice, - ib. 
Organ, ... - ib. 
Mechanism, - - - ib, 

4. Secretion of bile, ... ib. 
Biliary apparatus, - - - ib. 
Mechanism, - - - 116 



CONTENTS. 




305 

PAGE. 


Of bile, 


- 


- 117 


5. Secretion of urine, 


- 


- 119 


Kidneys, 


- 


- ib. 


Ureters, 


- 


- 119 


Bladder, 


- 


- ib. 


Urethra, 


- 


- 120 


Mechanism, 


- 


- 121 


Accumulation in the bladder, 


- ib. 


Excretion of urine: 


hypotheses, 


- 122 


Of urine, 


- 


- 124 


Article 4. Mechanism of the secretions general! 


v, 125 


Physical theories, 


- 


- 126 


Chymical theories, 


- 


- 127 


Vital theory, 


- 


- ib. 


. VIII. Of innervation, 


- 


- 128 


Its influence on organic 


functions 


- 129 


Its source and nature, 


- 


- ib. 



CHAP 



FIRST CLASS. 
SECOND ORDER. 

Functions of Relation. 

CHAP. I. Sensations, - - - - 132 

Article 1. Of sensations generally, - - ib. 

Article 2. Organs of sensations, - - 134 

Spinal marrow, - - - ib. 

Nerves, - - - - 135 

The great sympathetic, - - 136 
Queries respecting the functions of the 

nervous system, ... ib. 

Article 3. Senses of feeling and of touch, - 139 

Of the skin and hand, - - ib. 

Mechanism of feeling and touch, - 141 

Touch, - - - - 142 

Article 4. Sense of taste, - - - 143 

Flavour, - ib. 

Organs of taste, - - - 144 

Mechanism of taste, - - - 145 

Article 5. Sense of smell, „ - - 146 

Odours, .... ib. 



306 



CONTEXTS. 





PAGE. 


Organs of smell, 


147 


Mechanism of smell, 


148 


\rticle 6. Sense of sight, 


149 


Light, - 


ib. 


Organs of vision, 


151 


Mechanism of vision, - 


156 


Article 7. Sense of hearing, 


158 


Sound, .... 


ib. 


Organs of hearing, 


159 


Mechanism of hearing, 


161 


Article 8. Internal sensations, 


163 


Morbid sensations, 


164 


CFIAP. II. Intellectual and affective functions, - 


165 


Article 1. Encephalon, .... 


166 


Article 2. Section 1. Of the intellectual and affec- 




tive faculties, 


170 


Section 2. Of the affective faculties, - 


176 


Article 3. Organs of the moral functions, 


178 


Article 4. Of the sources and mechanism of the 




cerebral functions, 


184 


Vuticle 5. Of the circumstances which modify the 




brain and its functions, 


187 


Article 6. Of the means of appreciating the mode 




and extent of the moral faculties, - 


193 


CHAP. III. Locomotion, .... 


198 


Locomotive apparatus, 


ib. 


Bones, ..... 


ib. 


Muscles, - 


200 


Nerves, ..... 


ib: 


Of muscular contraction generally, 


201 


Article 2. Of station, .... 


202 


Biped station, 


ib. 


Soliped station, 


205 


Kneeling, .... 


ib. 


Sitting position, 


ib. 


Standing on the head, 


206 


Recumbent posture, - 


ib. 


Walking, - 


ib. 


Leaping, .... 


207 



CONTENTS. 307 







i 


PAGE. 


Running-, 


- 


- 


207 


Swimming 1 , 


- 


. 


208 


Article 3. Mechanism of the upper 


limbs, 


. 


209 


CHAP. IV. Of expression, 


- 


- 


210 


Article 1. Gesture, 


- 


- 


ib 


Article 2. Voice and speech, 


- 


- 


211 


Apparatus of the voice, 


- 


- 


ib. 


Phonation or voice, 


- 


- 


212 


Tone, 


- 


- 


213 


Timbre, 


- 


- 


ib. 


Ventrilloquism, 


- 


- 


ib. 


Of speech, 


- 


- 


214 


(HAP. V. Of sleep, 


- 


- 


216 


Hypotheses on sleep, 


- 


- 


218 


SECOND CLASS. 








Functions which arc subservient to the preservation of the 


species. 


CHAP. I. Generation, 


- 


- 


220 


Article 1. Genital apparatus of mar 


5 


- 


ib. 


Testicles, 


- 


- 


221 


Vas deferens, 


- 


- 


ib. 


Vesiculx seminales,* - 


- 


- 


222 


Penis, 


- 


- 


223 


Secretion of the semen, 


- 


- 


224 


Semen, 




- 


ib. 


Article 2. Apparatus of woman, 


- 


- 


225 


Ovaries, 


- 


- 


ib. 


Fallopian tubes, 


- 


- 


226 


Uterus, 


- 


- 


ib. 


Vagina, 


- 


- 


227 


Vulva, 


- 


- 


228 


Article 3. Organic and functional differences of 




the sexes, 


- 


- 


ib. 


Stature, 


- 


- 


ib 


Nutrition, 


- 


- 


229 


Sensations, 


- 


- 


ib. 


Locomotion, - 


- 


- 


230 


Expressions, - 


- 


- 


ib. 


Sleep, 


- 


- 


ib, 



SOS CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Menstruation, - - - 230 

Article 4. Copulation, .... 232 

Sensations which invite to coition, - ib. 

Action of man, - - - ib. 

Action of woman,' - - - 233 

Ann cle 5. Fecundation, .... ib. 

Theories, .... 234 

Epigenesis, - . - - 235 

Evolution, .... 236 

Theories of ovarism, - ib. 

Article 6. Development of the ovum in the uterus, 238 

Anne le 7. Membranes of the foetus, - - 240 

Decidua, - ib. 

Chorion, .... 241 

Amnion, .... ib. 

Placenta, - - - - 242 

Umbilical cord, - . - 243 

Umbilical vesicle, • • - 244 

Allan toid, .... ib. 

Article 8. Physiology of the foetus, - - 245 
Nutritive functions, - - . ib. 
Functions of relation and of reproduc- 
tion, .... 249 

Article 9. Gestation, .... ib. 

Article 10. Labour, .... 250 

Causes of labour, - - - ib. 

Conditions required for a safe delivery, ib. 

Mechanism of labour, - - 251 

Preparation for deliver}', • • ib. 

Dilatation of the neck, - - ib. 

Expulsion of the foetus, - - 252 

Delivery, .... 253 

Article 11. Of lactation, - - - ib. 

Apparatus of lactation, ' - - ib. 

Secretion of lactation, - - 254 

Milk, - - - - 255 

APPENDIX, 257 

CHAP. I. Of ages, ib. 

Article 1. First infancy, - - 253 



CONTENTS. 309 









TAGE. 


Article 2. Second infancy, 


. 


. 


- 261 


Article 3. Adolescence, 


. 


- 


- 262 


Article 4. Virility, 


. 


- 


- 264 


Article 5. Old age, 


- 


- 


- 264 


CHAP. II. Individual differences, 


- 


- 


- 268 


Article 1. Idiosyncrasies, 


- 


- 


- 269 


Article 2. Temperaments, 


- 


• 


- 271 


Article 3. Habits, 


- 


- 


- 277 


Article 4. Human races, 


- 


- 


- 282 


CHAP. III. Sympathies and synergies, 


- 


- 


- 284 


Theory of sympathies, 


- 


- 


- 289 


CHAP. IV. Of death, cadaverous phenomena, 


and 


putre- 


faction, 


. 


. 


- 292 


Natural death, 


. 


, 


- ib. 


Accidental death, 


. 


- 


- 293 


Cadaverous phenomena, 


- 


- 


- 296 


Putrefaction. 


- 


- 


- 298 



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XI. DEWEES on the DISEASES of FEMALES. 

Second edition, with additions. In 8vo. 

XII. DEWEES'S SYSTEM of MIDWIFERY. 

Third edition, with additions. 

XIII. CHAPMAN'S THERAPEUTICS and MA- 
TERIA ME DIC A. Fifth edition, with additions. 

XIV. COXE'S AMERICAN DISPENSATORY. 

New edition, with additions. 

XV. The ATLANTIC SOUVENIR, for 1830, in 
elegant fancy leather binding", and with numerous embellish- 
ments by the best Artists. 

The publishers have spared neither pains nor expense in endeavouring to 
render this, their fifth annual volume, still more worthy the high degree of fa- 
vour which its predecessors have enjoyed. All the impressions being from steel 
Fender them equally perfect, and the binding being a fancy leather, the whole 
will be rendered more permanent. In the list of Authors will be found many 
of the most distinguished writers in this country. - 

A few copies remain unsold of the ATLANTIC SOUVENIR, 
a Christmas and New Year's Present for 1827, 1828, and 1829, 
with numerous embellishments by the best Artists. 

XVI. A CHRONICLE of the CONQUEST of 

GRENADA, by Washington Irving, Esq. in 2 vols. 

" On the whole, this work will sustain the high fame of Washington Irving. 
It fills a blank in the historical library which ought not to have remained so 
long a blank. The language throughout is at once chaste and animated; and 
the nai'rative may be said, like Spencer's Fairy Queen, to present one long gal- 
lery of splendid pictures. Indeed, we know no pages from which the artist is 
more likely to derive inspiration, nor perhaps are there many incidents in lite- 
rary history more surprising than that this antique and chivalrous story should 
have been for the first time told worthily by the pen of an American and a re- 
publican."— London Literary Gazette. 

Recently jniblished, neio Editions of the following works 
by the same Author. 

THE SKETCH BOOK, 2 vols. 12mo. 

KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY of NEW YORK, 2 vols. 
12mo. 

BRACEBRIDGE HALL, 2 vols. 12mo. 

TALES of a TRAVELLER, 2 vols. 12mo. 

XVII. NEUMAN'S SPANISH and ENGLISH 
DICTIONARY, new Edition. 

XVIII. The WISH-TON-WISH, by the Author of 
the Spt, Pioneers, Red Rover, &c. in 2 vols. 12mo. 

" We can conceive few periods better calculated to offer a promising field to 
the novelist than that which these pages illustrate;— the mingling of wildest ad- 



4 Valuable Works 

venture with the most plodding industry — the severe spirit of the religion of the 
first American settlers— The feelings of household and home at variance -with all 
earlier associations of country— the magnificence of the sceneiy hy which they 
were surrounded— their neighbourhood to that most picturesque and extraordi- 
nary of people we call savages;— these, surely, are materials for the novelist, and 
in Mr. Cooper's hands they have lost none of their interest. We shall not attempt 
to detail the narrative, but only say it is well worthy of the high reputation of 
its author. All the more serious scenes are worked up to the highest pitch of 
excitement; if any where we have to complain of aught like failure, it is in the 
lighter parts, and some of the minor details, which are, occasionally, spun out 
too much." — London Literary Gazette. 

New Editions of the following Works by the same 
Author. 

The RED ROVER, in 2 vols. 12mo. 

The SPY, 2 vols. 12mo. 

The PIONEERS, 2 vols. 12mo. 

The PILOT, a Tale of the Sea, 2 vols. 12mo. 

LIONEL LINCOLN, or the LEAGUER of BOSTON, 2 
vols. 

The LAST of the MOHICANS, 2 vols. 12mo. 

The PRAIRIE, 2 vols. 12mo. 

XIX. A TOUR in AMERICA, by Basil Hall, 
Captain, R. N. in 2 vols. 12mo. 

XX. A REPLY to SIR WALTER SCOTT'S 

HISTORY of NAPOLEON, by Louis Bonaparte, Count de 
St. Leu, Ex-King- of Holland, brother of the Emperor: a trans- 
lation from the French. 

XXI. AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY; or NATU- 
RAL HISTORY of BIRDS inhabiting the UNITED STATES, 
by Charles Lucian Bonaparte; designed as a continuation 
of Wilson's Ornithology, vols. I., II. and HI. 

%* Gentlemen who possess Wilson, and are desirous of ren- 
dering the work complete, are informed that the edition of 
this work is very small, and that but a very limited number of 
copies remain unsold. 

XXII. HEBER'S TRAVELS in INDIA, second 
American Edition, 2 vols. 12mo. 

%* A few copies of the fine edition, in 2 vols. 8vo. still re- 
main unsold. 

XXIII. The AMERICAN QUARTERLY RE- 
VIEW, No. XIII. Contents.— Loves of the Poets.— Russia 
and Turkey.— Mohammedan History.— Texas.— Supreme Court 
of the United States.— The Burmese Empire.— Anti-masonry. 
—Canada.— Music and Musicians of Europe.— Life of Sum- 
merfield. — Terms, five dollars per annum. 

XXIV. The AMERICAN JOURNAL of the ME- 
DICAL SCIENCES, No XII. for February, 1830. Among the 
Collaborators of this work are Professors Bigelow, Channing, 



Published by Carey fy Lea. 5 

Chapman, Coxe, Davidge, De Butts, Dewees, Dickson, Dud- 
ley, Francis, Gibson, Godman, Hare, Henderson, Horner, 
Hosack, Jackson, Macneven, Mott, Mussey, Physick, Potter, 
Sewall, Warren, and Worthington; Drs. Daniell, Emerson, 
Fearn, Griffith, Hays, Hayward, Ives, Jackson, King-, Moultrie, 
Spence, Ware, and Wright. — Terms, Jive dollars per annum. 

XXV. TRAVELS of the DUKE of SAXE WEI- 
MER in the UNITED STATES, in 8vo. 

XXVI. WALSH'S JOURNEY from CONSTAN- 
TINOPLE to ENGLAND, in 12mo. 

" This is a very interesting and a popular volurfle, and it can be fearlessly re- 
commended as one of the most engaging volumes that have lately seen the 
light."— Monthly Review. 

XXVII. FRANKLIN'S SECOND EXPEDITION 
to the ARCTIC OCEAN, in 8vo. 

XXVIII. ELIA. Essays published under that name 
in the London Magazine, in 2 vols. 

XXIX. BROUGHAM'S SPEECH on the PRE- 
SENT STATE of ENGLISH LAW, in 8vo. 

XXX. HUTIN'S MANUAL of PHYSIOLOGY, 

in 12mo. 

XXXI. ANECDOTES of the COURT of NAPO- 
LEON, by M. De Batjsset, Prefect of the Palace, in 8vo. 

" The anecdotes of the imperial court are very garrulous and amusing." — New 
Monthly Magazine. 

XXXII. LORD BYRON and some of his CON- 
TEMPORARIES, by Leigh Hunt, in 8vo. 

" Mr. Leigh Hunt, however, is not one of these dishonest chroniclers. His 
position with regard to Lord Byron, and the long and intimate habits of inter- 
course with him which he enjoyed, enabled him to contemplate the noble poet's 
character, in all its darkness and brightness. Gifted, too, bke the subject of his 
memoir, with very remarkable talents, he is much more to be relied on, both in 
his choice of points of view, and his manner of handling his subject. He is not 
likely to spoil a bon-mot, an epigram, or a conversation; and while he can seize 
all that was really piquant about his lordship, he is infinitely above retaihng the 
low gossip and garbage, which some Memoir writers have done, in the true spi- 
rit of a waiting maid or lacquey."— New Monthly Magazine. 

XXXIII. DEATH-BED SCENES and PASTO- 
RAL CONVERSATIONS, by the late John Wharton, D. D. 
in 8vo. Contents, — Chap. I. Infidelity. — II. Atheism. — III. 
Despair. — IV. Parental Anger. — V. Baptism. — VI. Penitence. 
— VII. Proselytism. — VIII. Impatience. — IX. Religious Me- 
lancholy. — X. Scepticism. 

XXXIV. PHILOSOPHY in SPORT made SCI- 
ENCE in EARNEST, in 2 vols. 18mo. 

XXXV. NICHOLSON'S OPERATIVE MECHA- 



6 Valuable Works 

NIC and PRACTICAL MACHINIST, in 8vo. with one hun- 
dred plates. 

XXXVI. STICKLAND'S REPORTS upon the 
CANALS, RAIL-ROADS, and other PUBLIC WORKS of 
GREAT BRITAIN, in folio, with plates. 

XXXVII. LAVOISNE'S UNIVERSAL, HISTO- 
RICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL and CHRONOLOGICAL AT- 
LAS, folio, containing- 71 maps. 

XXXVIJI. HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, 
and STATISTICAL AMERICAN ATLAS, folio. 
XXXIX. VIVIAN GREY, 3 vols. 12mo. 

" We hail the author as a master in his art: anil we may venture to appeal to 
the work lie has produced as at once a prognostic and accomplishment of ori- 
ginal invention, that rare faculty in the genius of this age." 

XL. MANUAL of MATERIA MEDICA and 
PHARMACY. By H. M. Edwards, M. D. and P. Vavasseuh, 
M. D. comprising- a Concise Description of the Articles used 
in Medicine; their Physical and Chemical Properties; the Bo- 
tanical Characters of the Medicinal Plants; the Formulae for the 
Principal Officinal Preparations of the American, Parisian, 
Dublin, Edinburgh, &.c. Pharmacopoeias; with Observations on 
the Proper Mode of Combining- and Administering- Remedies. 
Translated from the French, with numerous Additions and 
Corrections, and adapted to the Practice of Medicine and to 
the Art of Pharmacy in the United States. By Joseph Togito, 
M. D. Member of the Philadelphia Medical Society, and E. 
Dcrand, Member of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. 

" It contains all the pharmaceutical information that the physician can desire, 
and in addition, a larger mass of information, in relation to the properties, &c. 
of the different articles and preparations employed in medicine, than any of 
the dispensatories, and Ave think will entirely supersede all these publications in 
the library of t\\v physician.'''— Am. Joum. «} the Medical Sciences. 

XLI. An EPITOME of the PHYSIOLOGY, GE- 
NERAL ANATOMY, and PATHOLOGY of BICHAT, by 

Thomas Hexdeusox, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Prac- 
tice of Medicine in Columbia College, Washington City. 1 
vol. 8vo. 

" The epitome of Dr. Henderson ought and must find a rdace in the library 
of every physician desirous of useful knowledge for himself, or of being instru- 
mental in imparting it to others, whose studies he is expected to superintend.'*— 
North American Medical and SurgicalJournal, No. 15. 

XLII. ADDRESSES DELIVERED on VARIOUS 
PUBLIC OCCASIONS, by Johx D. Godmax, M. D. late Pro- 
fessor of Natural History to the Franklin Institute, Professor 
of Anatomy, &c. in Rutgers College, &.c. &c. With an Appen- 
dix, containing* a Brief Explanation of the Injurious Effects 
of Tight Lacing upon the Organs and Functions of Respira- 
tion, Circulation, Digestion, &.c. 1 vol. 8vo. 



Published by Carey <$- Lea. 7 

XLIII. ELEMENTS of PHYSICS, or NATU- 
RAL PHILOSOPHY, GENERAL and MEDICAL, explained 
independently of TECHNICAL MATHEMATICS, and con- 
taining New Disquisitions and Practical Suggestions. By 
Neil Aiutott, M. D. First American, from the third London 
edition, with additions, by Isaac Hays, M. D. 

%* Of this work four editions have been printed in England in a very short 
time. All the Reviews speak of it in the highest terms. 

XLIV. A JOURNEY ROUND MY ROOM, from 

the French of Count Xavier ie Maistre. 

XLV. LAFAYETTE in AMERICA, in 1824 and 
1825; or a Journal of a Voyage to the United States, by A. 
Leva^seuh, Secretary to the General during his journey, 2 
vols. 12mo. Translated by John D. Godmast, M. D. 

" Although the Nation's Guest may not have revised these volumes, they must 
be received as perfectly authentic. M. Levasseur appeals, for the truth of his 
statements, to millions of witnesses. We ourselves seized them with avidity, as 
soon as they came within our reach, and on the whole derived from them the rich 
gratification which we expected. Several parts excite emotions like those which 
were produced by the presence of Lafayette: they kindle anew an enthusiastic 
national glow; the secretary is often eloquent in his pictures and sentiment; he 
writes with uniform propriety, we might say elegance."— Nntional Gazette. 

XLVI. BISHOP HEBER'S POEMS, with a ME- 
MOIR. of his LIFE, 18mo. 

XLVII. Major LONG'S EXPEDITION to the 
ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 2 vols. 8vo. with 4to Atlas. 

XLVIII. Major LONG'S EXPEDITION to the 
SOURCES of the MISSISSIPPI, 2 vols. 8vo. with Plates. 

XLIX. NOTIONS of the AMERICANS, bj a 
Travelling Bachelor, 2 vols. 12mo. By the Author of the Spy, 
Pioneers, &c. 

L. INTERNAL NAVIGATION of the UNITED 

STATES, with Maps. 

LI. LIGHTS and SHADOWS of ENGLISH 
LIFE, 2 vols. 18mo. 

LII. OMNIPRESENCE of the DEITY, by W. 

Montgomery. 

This work has gone rapidly through nine editions in Eng- 
land. • 

LIII. REUBEN APSLEY, by the Author of 
Brambeetye House, 2 vols. 12mo. 

LIV. RAMSAY'S UNIVERSAL HISTORY, 

12 vols. 8vo. 



8 Valuable Works, <yc. 

LV. A SELECTION of ONE HUNDRED PER- 

RIN'S FABLES, accompanied by a Key, &c. &c. by A. Bol- 
majt, professor of the French Language. 



IN THE PRESS, 

I. A HISTORY of MARITIME DISCOVERY, 

being the first volume of the CABINET of GEOGRAPHY. 
To be completed in 6 vols. 18mo. 

II. The YOUNG LADIES' BOOK, a Manual of 
Instructive Exercises, Recreations and Pursuits. With nu- 
merous plates. 

III. CLARENCE,- a Tale of our Times. By the 
Author of Redwood, Hope Leslie, &c. In 2 vols. 

IV. CHEMISTRY APPLIED to the ARTS, on 

the basis of Gray's Operative Chemist. In 8vo. with nu- 
merous plates. 

V. A NEW WORK ON RAIL ROADS, with 
plates. 

VI. BELL on the ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, 

and DISEASES of the TEETH. 

VII. MACCULLOCH on REMITTENT and 

INTERMITTENT DISEASES. 

VIII. The PRINCIPLES and PRACTICE of 

MEDICINE, by Samuel Jackson, M. D. 

IX. ELEMENTS of MYOLOGY, by John D. 
Godman, M. D. illustrated by a series of beautiful Engravings 
of the Muscles of the Human Body, on a plan heretofore un- 
known in this country. 

X. EXAMINATION of MEDICAL DOC- 
TRINES and SYSTEMS of NOSOLOGY, preceded by PRO- 
POSITIONS containing the SUBSTANCE of PHYSIOLOGI- 
CAL MEDICINE, by F. J. V. Broussais, Officer of the 
Royal order of the Legion of Honour; Chief Physician and 
First Professor in the Military Hospital for Instruction at Pa- 
ris, &c. &c. &c. Third edition. Translated from the French, 
by Isaac Hats, M. D. and R. E. Griffith, M. D, 



Philadelphia, February, 1830. 
Just Published, by Carey 4* Lea, 
And sold in Philadelphia by E. L. Carey $ A. Hart ; in New- York 
by G.fyC.& H. Carvill ; in Boston by Carter & Hendee—m- Charleston 
by W. H. Berrett— in New-Orleans by W. M'Kean; by the principal 
booksellers throughout the Union, 

AND IN LONDON, BY JOHN MILLER, ST. JAMES'S STREET. 

VOLUMES I. & II., 

CONTAINING ABOUT 3,000 ARTICLES, 

( To be continued at intervals of three months,) 

OF THE 

ENCYCLOPAEDIA AMERICANA: 

A 

POPULAR DICTIONARY 

OP 

ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND POLITICS, 

BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME AND INCLUDING A COPIOUS 
COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ARTICLES IN 

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY: 

On the basis of the Seventh Edition of the German 

CONVERSATION S-L.JUX1CON. 



Edited by Dr. FRANCIS LIEBER, 
Assisted by EDWARD WIGGLESWORTH, Esq. 



To be completed in twelve large volumes, octavo., price to subscribers, bound 
in cloth, two dollars and a half each. 

EACH VOLUME WILL CONTAIN BETWEEN 600 AND 700 PAGES. 



The Conversation Lex*x>n, of which the seventh edition in 
twelve volumes has lately been published in Germany, origin- 
ated about fifteen years since. It was intended to supply a want 
occasioned by the character of the age, in which the sciences, 
arts, trades, and the various forms of knowledge and of active 
life, had become so much extended and diversified, that no in- 
dividual engaged in business could become well acquainted 
with all subjects of general interest ; while the wide diffusion 
of information rendered such knowledge essential to the charac- 
ter of an accomplished man. This want, no existing works 
were adequate to supply. Books treating of particular branch- 
es, such as gazetteers, &c. were too confined in character; 
while voluminous Encyclopaedias were too learned, scientific. 



'4, ENCYCLOPAEDIA AMERICANA. 

and cumbrous, being- usually elaborate treatises, requiring much 
study or previous acquaintance with the subject discussed. The 
conductors of the Conversation Lexicon endeavored to select 
from every branch of knowledge what was necessary to a well- 
informed mind, and to give popular views of the more abstruse 
branches of learning and science ; that their readers might not 
be incommoded, and deprived of pleasure or improvement, by 
ignorance of facts or expressions used in books or conversation. 
Such a work must obviously be of great utility to every class of 
readers. It has been found so much so in Germany, that it 
is met with everywhere, among the learned, the lawyers, the 
military, artists, merchants, mechanics, and men of all stations. 
The reader may judge how well it is adapted to its object, 
from the circumstance, that though it now consists of twelve 
volumes, seven editions, comprising about one hundred thou- 
sand copies, have been printed in less than fifteen years. It 
has been translated into the Swedish, Danish and Dutch lan- 
guages, and a French translation is now preparing in Paris. 

A great advantage of this work is its liberal and impartial 
character ; and there can be no doubt that a book like the En- 
cyclopaedia Americana will be found peculiarly useful in this 
country, where the wide diffusion of the blessings of education, 
and the constant intercourse of all classes, create a great de- 
mand for general information. 

In the preparation of the work thus far, the Editors have 
been aided by many gentlemen of distinguished ability ; and for 
the continuation, no efforts shall be spared to secure the aid of 
all who can, in any way, contribute to render it worthy of 
patronage. 

The American Biography, which is very extensive, will be 
furnished by Mr. Walsh, who has long paid particular atten- 
tion to that branch of our literature, and from materials in the 
collection of which he has been engaged for some years. For 
obvious reasons, the notices of distinguished Americans will be 
confined to deceased individuals : the European biography con- 
tains notices of all distinguished living characters, as well as 
those of past times. 

The articles on Zoology have been written expressly for the 
present edition by Dr. John D. God man ; those on Chemistry 
and Mineralogy, by a gentleman deeply versed in those de- 
partments of science. 

In relation to the Fine Arts, the work will be exceedingly 
rich. Great attention was given to this in the German work, 
and the Editors have been anxious to render it, by the necessary 
additions, as perfect as possible. 

To gentlemen of the Bar, the work will be peculiarly valua- 
ble, as in cases where legal subjects are treated, an account ia 



ENCYCLOPAEDIA AMERICANA. 3 

given of the provisions of American, English, French, Prussian, 
Austrian, and Civil Law. 

The Publishers believe it will be admitted, that this work is 
one of the cheapest ever published in this country. They have 
been desirous to render it worthy of a place in the best libraries, 
while at the same time they have fixed the price so low as to 
put it within the reach of all who read. 

Those who can, by any honest modes of economy, reserve the sum of two 
dollars and fifty cents quarterly, from their family expenses, may pay for this 
work as fast as it is published ; and wc confidently believe that they will find 
at the end that they never purchased so much general, practical, useful infor- 
mation at so cheap a rate. — Journal of Education. 

If the encouragement to the publishers should correspond with the testimony 
in favor of their enterprise, and the beautiful and faithful style of its execu- 
tion, the hazard of the undertaking, bold as it was, will be well compensated; 
and our libraries will be enriched by the most generally useful encyclopedic 
dictionary that has been offered to the readers of the English language. Full 
enough for the general scholar, and plain enough for every capacity, it is far 
more convenient, in every view and form, than its more expensive and ponder- 
ous predecessors — American Farmer. 

The high reputation of the contributors to this work, will not fail to insure 
it a favorable reception, and its own merits will do the rest.— Sillimari's Joum. 

The work will be a valuable possession to every family or -individual that 
can afford to purchase it ; and we take pleasure, therefore, in extending the 
knowledge of its merits. — National Intelligencer. 

The Encyclopaedia Americana is a prodigious improvement upon all that 
has gone before it ; a thing for our country, as well as the country that gave 
it birth, to be proud of; an inexhaustible treasury of useful, pleasant and fa- 
miliar learning on every possible subject, so arranged as to be speedily and 
safely referred to on emergency, as well as on deliberate inquiry ; and better 
still, adapted to the understanding, and put within the reach of the multitude. 
* * * The Encyclopedia Americana is a work without which no library 
worthy of the name can hereafter be made up.— Yankee. 

The copious^information which, if a just idea of the whole may be formed 
from the first volume, this work affords on American subjects, fully justifies 
its title of an American Dictionary; while at the same time the extent, varie- 
ty, and felicitous disposition of its topics, make it the most convenient and 
satisfactory Encyclopaedia that we have ever seen. — National Journal. 

If the succeeding volumes shall equal in merit the one before us, we may 
confidently anticipate for the work a reputation and usefulness which ought 
to secure for it the most flattering encouragement and patronage. — Federal 
Gazette. 

The variety of topics is of course vast, and they are treated in a manner 
which is at once so full of information* and so interesting, that the work, in 
stead of being merely referred to, might be regularly perused with as much 
pleasure as profit. — Baltimore American. 

We view it as a publication worthy of the age and of the country, and can- 
not but believe the discrimination of our countrymen will sustain the publish- 
ers, and well reward them for this contribution to American Literature.— 
Baltimore Patriot. 

We cannot doubt that the succeeding volumes will equal the first, and we 
hence warmly recommend the work to the patronage of the public, as being by 
far the best work of the kind ever offered for sale m this country. — U. S. Oaz. 

It reflects the greatest credit on those who have been concerned in its pro- 
duction, and promises, in a variety of respects, to be the best as well as the 
most compendious dictionary of the arts, sciences, history, politics, biography, 
&c. which has yet been compiled. The style of the portion we have read 
is terse and perspicuous ; and it is really curious how so much scientific and 
other information could have been so satisfactorily communicated in such brief 
limits.— .AT. Y. Evening Post. 

A compendious library, and invaluable book of reference.— JV. Y. American. 



4 ENCYCLOPAEDIA AMERICANA. 

This cannot but prove a valuable addition to the literature of the'age.— Mer. 
Advertiser. 

The appearance of the first volume of this valuable work in this country, is 
an event not less creditable to its enterprising publishers, than it is likely to 
prove lastingly beneficial to the public. When completed, according to the 
model presented by the first volume, it will deserve to be regarded as the spirit 
of all the best Encyclopaedias, since it comprises whatever is really desirable 
and necessary in them, and in addition, a large proportion of articles entirely 
original, or expressly written for its pages. This is the condition of all the 
articles of American Biography, by Mr. Walsh ; those on Zoology, by Dr. God- 
man ; and those on Mineralogy and Chemistry, by a gentleman of Boston, 
distinguished for his successful devotion to those studies. The work abounds 
with interesting and useful matter, presented in a condensed and perspicuous 
style; nor is it one of its least commendations that it is to be comprised in 
twelve octavo volumes, which may be placed on an office table, or occupy a 
shelf in the parlor, ever ready for immediate reference, instead of requiring 
almost a room to itself, like its ponderous predecessors, the Britannica, Edin- 
burgensis, &c. 

The vast circulation this work has had in Europe, where it has already been 
reprinted in four or five languages, not to speak of the numerous German edi- 
tions, of which seven have been published, speaks loudly in favor of its in- 
trinsic merit, without which such a celebrity could -never have been attained. 
To every man engaged in public business, who needs a correct and ample book 
of reference on various topics of science and letters, the Encyclopaedia Ameri- 
cana will be almost invaluable. To individuals obliged to goto situations 
where books are neither numerous nor easily procured, the rich contents of 
these twelve volumes will prove a mine which will amply repay its purchaser, 
and be with difficulty exhausted, and we recommend it to their patronage in 
the full conviction of its worth. Indeed it is difficult to say to what class of 
leaders such a book would not prove useful, nay, almost indispensable, since 
it combines a great amount of valuable matter in small compass, and at mode- 
rate expense, and is in every respect well suited to augment the reader's stock 
of ideas, and powers of conversation, without severely taxing time or fatiguing 
attention. These, at least, are our conclusions after a close and candid ex- 
amination of the first volume. — Am. Daily Advertiser. 

We have seen and carefully examined the first volume of the Encyclopaedia 
Americana, just published by Carey, Lea and Carey, and think our readers may 
be congratulated upon the opportunity of making such a valuable accession to 
their libraries. — Aurora. 

The department of American Biography, a subject of which it should be 
disgraceful to be ignorant, to the degree that many are, is, in this work, a 
prominent feature, and has received the attention of one of the most indefati- 
gable writers in this department of literature, which the present age can fur- 
nish. — Boston Courier. 

According to the plan of Dr. Lieber, a desideratum will be supplied ; the sub- 
stance of contemporary knowledge will be brought within a small compass; — 
and the character and uses of a manual will be imparted to a kind of publica- 
tion heretofore reserved, on strong shelves, for occasional reference. By those 
who understand the German language, the Conversation Lexicon is consulted 
ten times for one application to any English Encyclopedia.— National Oaz. 

The volume now published is not only highly honorable to the taste, ability 
and industry of its editors and publishers, but furnishes a proud sample of the 
accuracy and elegance, with which the most elaborate and important literary 
enterprises may now be accomplished in our country. Of the manner in which 
the editors have thus far completed their task, it is impossible, in the course of 
a brief newspaper article, to speak with adequate justice. — Boston Bulletin. 

We have looked at the contents, generally, of the second volume of this 
work, and think it merits the encomiums which have been bestowed on it in 
the northern papers. It continues to be particularly rich in the departments 
of Biography and Natural History. When we look at the large mass of mis- 
cellaneous knowledge spread before the reader, in a form which has never been 
equalled for its condensation, and conveyed in a style that cannot be surpassed 
for propriety and perspicuity, we cannot but think that the American Ency- 
clopaedia deserves a place in every collection, in which works of reference form 
a portion."— Southern Patriot. 



MAR 281949 



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